Due to Slow Demand
Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate, Kia Motors Corp., saw their combined sales in the United States drop 6.9 percent on-year in February.
According to Hyundai Motor Group on March 2, the two South Korean auto giants sold a combined 95,693 units in the U.S. last month, down 6.9 percent from the same period last year. Hyundai's sales remained almost flat, or 11 units, at 53,020 units, compared to a year earlier, while Kia's took a 14.2 percent dive to 42,673 units.
The market share of Hyundai-Kia Motors stood at 7.2 percent, ranking seventh after GM, Ford, Toyota, Chrysler, Nissan and Honda.
By car model, sales of the Hyundai Avante and Santa Fe grew 44.4 percent and 58.5 percent respectively. As Kia Motors sold 2,143 units of the Niro small hybrid sport utility vehicle (SUV), the company has started sales in earnest. However, its total sales showed a decrease due to the fact that the Carnival minivan, known as the Sedona in global markets, had the biggest drop of 47 percent on -year to 2,111 units.
Meanwhile, the cumulative sales of Hyundai-Kia Motors from January to February reached 177,826, down 4.4 percent from a year ago. It was a bigger decrease considering the fact that the demand in the U.S. auto industry dropped 1.5 percent over the same period.