Hyundai-Kia Motors Retains 5th Spot in Global Sales in 2015

Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. retained their No. 5 status in global sales last year. Despite the global economic recession, the two companies saw a slight increase in sales, while the top three carmakers all saw their sales shrink.

According to industry sources on Feb. 11, the top five carmakers sold 46.43 million vehicles last year. The figure is down 0.7 percent, or 330,000 units, from 46.76 million units in the previous year. Japan's Toyota topped the ranking by selling 10.15 million cars last year, followed by Volkswagen with 9.93 million, General Motors with 9.84 million, Renault Nissan with 8.49 million, and Hyundai-Kia Motors with 8.02 million.

Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors saw their sales shrink 0.8 percent, 2.1 percent and 0.8 percent on-year, respectively, last year. However, Hyundai-Kia Motors and Renault Nissan saw their sales grow 0.2 percent.

Among the top five carmakers, Volkswagen suffered the biggest setback last year. Although the German carmaker ranked first in sales in the first half of last year, surpassing Toyota, its sales fell about 210,000 units last year compared with a year earlier due to the diesel emissions scandal in the second half of the year. General Motors, the No. 3 player, also sold as low as 9.84 million units due to a sales dip in emerging markets, such as Russia and Brazil.