Enjoy High Growth in European Car Market
Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. suffered a 25.9 percent plunge in sales in China last year, while sales of Chinese brand cars rose 20.5 percent. They recorded the largest decline in market share among foreign carmakers. Their combined market share plunged to 2.7 percent.
According to the 21st Century Business Herald, the number of passenger cars sold in 2021 totaled 20.15 million units, up 4.4 percent from a year ago. Sales of domestic brands increased 20.5 percent from a year before, with their market share swelling from 35.7 percent to 41.2 percent. On the other hand, sales of joint venture brands decreased by 6.9 percent, pushing down their market share from 51.1 percent to 45.6 percent.
Among joint venture brands, sales of Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp., German and Japanese brands plummeted. In particular, the combined sales of Hyundai Motor and Kia plunged 25.9 percent from 2020, far exceeding the drops of German automakers (8.9 percent) and Japanese automakers (1.8 percent).
German brands’ market share fell from 25.5 percent in 2020 to 22.3 percent in 2021, while that of Japanese brands shrank from 24.1 percent to 22.6 percent. Hyundai Motor and Kia’s combined market share shrank from 3.8 percent in 2020 to 2.7 percent in 2021.
Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor and Kia posted the largest-ever share in the European auto market in 2021. According to the European Automobile Industry Association (ACEA) on Jan. 18, Hyundai Motor sold 515,886 units in the European market in 2021, recording 21.6 percent growth year-on-year. During the same period, Kia sold 502,677 units, up 20.6 percent. Their combined annual sales totaled 1,018,563 units, up 21.1 percent from a year earlier.
In particular, it is quite meaningful that Hyundai Motor and Kia achieved a sharp sales increase in the European market, which contracted 1.5 percent as a whole in 2021.
As a result, Hyundai Motor and Kia’s combined market share in Europe expanded 1.7 percentage points to 8.7 percent, beating BMW Group to take fourth place. The ranking is one notch up from the previous year. Hyundai Motor and Kia saw their market shares expand by 0.8 percentage points each to 4.4 percent and 4.3 percent, respecitively.