Exceeding Expectations
Hyundai-Kia Motors exceeded the accumulated sales of 10 million units in China.
The company announced on April 6 that it surpassed the accumulated sales of 10 million units in China on April 3, only seven months after it recorded 9 million units of sales in September last year.
Hyundai-Kia Motors reached the milestone just 13 years after the company entered the Chinese market in 2002. This is a big record exceeding that of Volkswagen of 25 years, and GM of 17 years, which are the top two companies in the country.
Among the total of 10 million vehicles, Beijing Hyundai sold 6,547,297 units, while Dongfeng Yueda Kia sold 3,453,479.
Hyundai-Kia Motors exceeded 10 million units of accumulated sales in only two countries before – in Korea in 1996 and in the U.S. in 2011. China is the third country and the shortest period of time.
The reason why Hyundai-Kia Motors could pull this off is that the company supplied the models which satisfied the growing market demand at the right time.
Hyundai Motor established a joint venture in 2002, Beijing Hyundai, with Chinese state-run Beijing Automotive Group. As the company successfully launched the EF Sonata (the Mingwi locally) and the Avante XD (the Elantra locally) in December that year, Hyundai Motor ranked 5th in sales in 2004, just in two years after the Chinese market advance, and moved up to number four next year.
Kia Motors also founded a joint company, Dongfeng Yueda Kia, with Dongfeng Motor Corporation and Yueda. Starting with its Cholima model in 2002, the company took 8th place in sales in the Chinese market last year through a steady localization strategy, recording an annual growth rate of 32 percent.