Sales in Europe Grow 23% This Year
Hyundai Motor Group’s sales in Europe grew 23 percent in 2021 from the previous year. It beat BMW Group to regain fourth place. In particular, the sales gap with Renault Group, which is ranked third, is only 30,000 units. A fierce competition for third place is expected next year.
According to the European Automobile Industry Association (ACEA) on Dec. 22, Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. sold a combined total of 943,433 units in Europe from January to November 2021. On an annual basis, the Korean automotive group’s sales are expected to top one million units, the level before the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. Its gap with the fifth-ranked BMW Group has already widened to more than 150,000 units.
Volkswagen Group came in first with 2,721,557 units, followed by Stellantis with 2.21,337 units and Renault Group with 981,771 units. Sales of Volkswagen Group and Renault Group fell 0.5 percent and 10.9 percent, respectively, from the previous year, while Stellantis posted an increase of 0.8 percent. Hyundai Motor Group stood out with a whopping 23 percent increase in sales.
Hyundai Motor Group’s market share rose from 7.1 percent in 2020 to 8.7 percent in 2021. Its market share gap with Renault Group narrowed from 3.2 percentage points in 2020 to 0.4 percentage points in 2021. Industry observers say that Hyundai Motor Group would be able to take third place from Renault Group, if sales of its electric vehicle begin in earnest in 2022.
Analysts say that Hyundai Motor Group’s sales growth in 2021 were driven by sports utility vehicles (SUVs), European strategic models, and eco-friendly cars. In particular, Hyundai and Kia sold 124,457 electric vehicles in Europe, crossing 100,000 units a year in the region for the first time in history.