Competition in Chinese Car Market
According to industry sources on May 18, sales by Hyundai Motor Group – consisting of Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors – amounted to 582.890 units (375.277 units by Hyundai, 207.613 units by Kia) in the Chinese market between January and April, a 10.1 percent year-on-year gain. As a result, the car giant snatched second place from General Motors (GM) in the market.
Thanks to the surge in the sales of Hyundai and Kia cars this year, the market share of Hyundai Motor Group expanded 0.2 percent year-on-year to reach 10.6 percent during the period.
GM, on the other hand, sold 576.134 units, which placed the automaker in the third spot. GM car sales were up 7.9 percent from a year ago. The Volkswagen group is dominating the Chinese market with more than 20 percent market share, and the Korean and U.S. auto giants are competing for the runner-up spot.
However, it will not easy for Hyundai Motor Group to maintain its market share in the range of 10 percent, given that Volkswagen is exhibiting good performance and global companies in the middle ranks are closely following the Korean automaker.
In fact, all rival companies (except GM) have been logging stronger growth than Hyundai and Kia Motors during the period. The sales of Volkswagen cars grew 23.4 percent year-on-year to reach 125.3 units, while the annual growth rate of the big three — Nissan (324.659 units), Toyota (287.188 units), and Honda (222.408 units) — has been 23.9 percent, 16.0 percent, and 10.7 percent, respectively. In particular, the growth rate of Ford amounted to 45.4 percent with the sales of 264.977 units.