5th Place Globally

Chung Mong-koo, chairman of the Hyundai Motor Group, walks across the stage at a recent Group event.
Chung Mong-koo, chairman of the Hyundai Motor Group, walks across the stage at a recent Group event.

 

Hyundai Motor Group’s two auto units - Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors - sold a combined total of 8 million vehicles last year, a new record for the group. It has achieved the 8 million vehicles goal for annual sales only two years after it broke through the wall of 7 million vehicles in 2012.

Its sales of over 8 million units are the world's fifth-largest in the automotive industry, followed by Toyota, Volkswagen, General Motors, and Renault Nissan.

The exact total for Hyundai and Kia Motors is 8,005,152 cars sold in the global market. It is said that an encouragement from the group’s chairman, Chung Mong-koo, played a part as the driving force of a sale extension at the last minute. Chung presided over a meeting of the CEOs of the group's affiliates in Nov. last year. During the meeting, he said, “Even though the market conditions are unfavorable due to the weak yen and a sluggish recovery of the demand in the global market, let’s get over it and exceed the 8 million mark.”

Hyundai Motor Group set global sales objectives of 8.2 million vehicles this year. During a kick-off meeting for the year held in the headquarters of Yangjae-dong on Jan. 2, Chung said, “We have confirmed the production and sales goal in the global market of 8.2 million cars this year. I hope you make every effort to attain the goal.”

The goal of 8.2 million units this year would be 2.5 percent growth. Hyundai Motor Group expects that it is likely to fulfill the goal easily if Hyundai Motor sells a total of 5.05 million vehicles, 1.869 million at home, and 3.181 million abroad, and Kia Motors sells a total of 3.15 million vehicles, 1.71 million at home and 1.44 million abroad. Considering the fact that the group sets conservative goals, actual sales are likely to exceed the goal of 8.3 million cars.

The group increased its annual sales by more than 5 percent from 2004 to last year, and the industry forecasts that the global auto sales this year will increase by 3.9 percent. Considering these factors, Hyundai Motor’s sales goal actually leaves much to be desired. Indeed, sales growth of 2.5 percent is the lowest figure since 2003, when domestic demand slumped sharply due to the nation’s credit card crisis in 2003.

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