Korea-Japan Competition in Automobile Market
Hyundai Motor Group is outperforming Japanese automakers in an increasing number of emerging markets, including India, Vietnam and Russia.
Last month, the group’s Indian market share jumped from 23 percent to 35 percent whereas that of Maruti Suzuki, which dominated the market for about four decades, dropped from 47 percent to 32 percent. The group entered the Indian market in 1998 and rose to the top for the first time last month. Maruti Suzuki was founded in 1981 and its Indian market share never fell below 65 percent until the late 1990s. These days, the company is still focusing on compact sedans while the popularity of SUVs is rising in India. Last year, the Hyundai Creta was the most popular SUV in the market and 96,989 consumers opted for it. This year, the sales volume already reached 57,342 at the end of May.
In Vietnam, Hyundai Motor Group has outdone Toyota since 2019. For the first four months of this year, the group and Toyota sold 37,354 and 18,973 cars in Vietnam, respectively. Previously, Toyota dominated the market for about 20 years.
In Russia, the group sold 161,409 cars from January to May while Toyota’s sales volume stood at 40,000 or so. In Brazil, their respective sales volumes were 80,419 and 62,094 in that period.
In Congo, Hyundai signed a contract last month to supply 500 Palisades. The SUV won the contract by beating the Toyota Land Cruiser. Although Congo is not a major car market, the contract with the government can lead to market expansion.
In Europe, the group sold 88,171 cars last month, up 107.5 percent from a year ago. Its European market share rose from 6.8 percent to 8.1 percent from May 2020 to last month. The share topped 8 percent for the second time after August last year. Last month, the group came in fourth in Europe behind Volkswagen Group, Stellantis and Renault Group. In the United States, the group is about to catch up with Honda. There, the group sold 174,043 cars and Honda sold 176,815 cars last month.