Last Year’s Strong Performance by Hyundai Motor and Kia, Sales to Increase by Over 10% This Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] Despite the shortage of automotive semiconductors, Hyundai Motor Company and Kia, which saw an increase in sales last year, have raised their sales targets by more than 10% compared to the previous year, signaling an improvement in performance.

According to the automotive industry on the 4th, Hyundai and Kia sold 3,890,981 units and 2,777,056 units respectively last year. Combined, the two companies sold 6,668,037 units, a 4.9% increase compared to the previous year.

Although they fell short of the initial sales target of 7.08 million units, they are evaluated to have performed well as overseas sales increased despite the ongoing automotive semiconductor supply shortage throughout the year.

Hyundai and Kia have set aggressive sales targets this year, anticipating improvements in the automotive semiconductor supply shortage and the economy. The combined sales target for this year is 7,473,000 units, more than 12% higher than last year.

Hyundai aims to sell 732,000 units domestically, a 0.7% increase from last year’s performance, and 3,591,000 units overseas, a 13.5% increase.

Kia plans to sell 562,000 units domestically and 2,588,000 units overseas this year, which are increases of 5.0% and 15.4% respectively compared to last year.

The industry expects that with the global automotive market recovering this year, Hyundai and Kia are likely to achieve their sales targets.

According to the HMG Management Research Institute’s Economic and Management Research Center, the global automotive market is expected to grow by an average of 7.6% this year, with the U.S. at 5.0%, Europe at 9.3%, India at 5.9%, and Brazil at 8.3%.

Hana Financial Investment forecasts that factors limiting demand and supply, such as COVID-19 and the shortage of automotive semiconductors, will gradually ease, leading to a recovery in industrial demand and sustained effects of new car launches, resulting in a global sales increase of more than 10%.

Researcher Seonjae Song of Hana Financial Investment explained, "The reason the overseas growth is expected to be greater is that the base was relatively low last year due to the significant impact of COVID-19 and semiconductor shortages, and because major new models are being sequentially launched overseas."

Sales growth is expected to be driven by eco-friendly vehicles and luxury cars. Hyundai Motor Group plans to expand sales of Genesis and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in the U.S. market, and eco-friendly vehicles such as electric cars in Europe.

Hyundai Motor Group plans to strengthen its electric vehicle lineup this year with the launch of the Ioniq 6, Genesis GV70 electrified model, Niro EV, and Kia EV6 high-performance model.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.