Hyundai-Kia Motors Sets New Monthly Sales Record in USA

Hyundai and Kia achieved a record-breaking sales record in the U.S. last year. Their goal for next year is to sell more than 1 million eco-friendly cars.

According to the U.S. 2023 annual sales results announced on the 3rd (local time), Hyundai and Kia sold 1,652,821 units, a 12.1% increase from the previous year, rewriting the record for the highest sales ever since their entry into the U.S. They had already achieved an annual sales of 1.5 million units for the first time in history, surpassing the previous record of 1,489,118 units in November.

Hyundai (including Genesis) sold a total of 873,700 units in 2023, easily surpassing the annual sales of 800,000 units for the first time. The luxury car brand Genesis also achieved a record high sales with 69,175 units, a 20% increase from the previous year. Kia also broke its 2021 record with 782,451 units, achieving the highest sales ever.

According to the sales performance by the company compiled by Automotive News, Hyundai and Kia ranked 4th among automakers for the first time, surpassing Stellantis (1,533,670 units) and following GM (2,577,662 units), Toyota (2,248,477 units), and Ford (1,981,332 units). They achieved the feat of surpassing Stellantis just two years after surpassing Honda and ranking 5th for the first time in 2021.

At the ‘2024 North American Car of the Year’ award ceremony held in Pontiac, Michigan, USA, on the 4th, the Kia EV9 was selected as the ‘Car of the Year’ in the utility category, once again proving its world-class product competitiveness.

As a result, they achieved the feat of winning the North American Car of the Year for the eighth time since the Genesis sedan from Hyundai won the award for the first time in 2009. Over the past six years, they have produced five vehicles, six ‘North American Cars of the Year’, establishing themselves as the leading brand in the U.S. auto market.

Eco-friendly cars, high-end vehicles are the secret to success

The driving force behind Hyundai and Kia’s sales last year was undoubtedly the rise of eco-friendly cars and high-value-added vehicles, such as luxury cars (Genesis) and RVs, in the U.S. auto market.

It’s not just that sales have increased, but American customers are not hesitant to buy Hyundai and Kia vehicles to choose more expensive and better cars. This shows that Hyundai and Kia’s brand power has fundamentally strengthened in the U.S. market. In addition, these business improvements have led to improvements in sales and profitability, establishing a virtuous cycle system for sustainable growth.

Hyundai and Kia sold a total of 278,122 eco-friendly cars in the U.S. market last year, a 52.3% increase from the previous year. After selling more than 100,000 eco-friendly cars in the U.S. market for the first time in 2021 with an explosive growth of 184.8%, sales surged 2.7 times in just two years.

As a result, the proportion of eco-friendly car sales in Hyundai and Kia’s U.S. sales increased more than fivefold from 3.2% in 2020 to 16.8% last year, and their market share in the U.S. eco-friendly car market has exceeded 20% for three consecutive years since 2021. Considering that Hyundai and Kia’s market share in the entire U.S. auto market is around 10%, their dominance in the eco-friendly car market is considerable.

Hyundai and Kia have secured the highest level of competitiveness in all types of eco-friendly cars from hybrids (HEV) to plug-in hybrids (PHEV), electric vehicles (EV), and hydrogen electric vehicles (FCEV), and are responding flexibly to market conditions and demand without being concentrated on specific models.

Although there are signs that the rapid growth of electric vehicle sales worldwide is slowing down somewhat recently, the main driver of Hyundai and Kia’s eco-friendly car sales expansion last year was electric cars.

Last year, Hyundai and Kia sold 94,340 electric cars, a 62.6% increase from the previous year, maintaining the highest growth rate among all eco-friendly cars. Especially since August 2022, despite the relatively low price competitiveness due to the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), they are performing well based on high product quality.

The most-sold electric car model of Hyundai and Kia in the U.S. last year was the Ioniq 5, which was selected as the 2022 World Car of the Year. The Ioniq 5 sold 33,918 units last year, a 47.6% increase in sales compared to 2022, its first full year of sales.

The Kia EV6, which won the ‘2023 North American Car of the Year, was the second best-selling model with 18,879 units, followed by the Ioniq 6 with 12,999 units, the Niro EV with 12,157 units, and the Kona Electric with 8,866 units.

The Ioniq 6, which started selling in the U.S. in March of last year, has continued its strong sales performance by selling over 1,000 units per month for seven consecutive months from June to December, and in December, it surpassed 2,000 units for the first time with 2,056 units, so it is expected that sales will further expand this year.

Kia’s flagship electric vehicle, the EV9, surpassed 1,000 units in December last year, when sales began in earnest, with 1,113 units. Especially, the EV9 is a model that belongs to the most popular 3-row large SUV category in the U.S. market, so future sales growth is expected.

In addition to electric cars, Hyundai and Kia are also maintaining high competitiveness in HEV models (including PHEV), continuously increasing sales. HEV models accounted for the largest proportion of eco-friendly cars sold by Hyundai and Kia in the U.S. last year.

Last year, they sold seven HEV models (four from Hyundai and three from Kia), selling 183,541 units, a 47.8% increase from the previous year.

The expansion of the lineup centered on popular models was effective in expanding Hyundai and Kia’s HEV sales. The number of HEV models sold in the U.S. in 2020 was only four, but they significantly increased sales by introducing HEV models to popular models such as Elantra (Avante), Tucson, Santa Fe, Sportage, and Sorento from 2021.

The best-selling HEV model last year was the Hyundai Tucson HEV, which sold 43,110 units, a 29.3% increase from the previous year. The Kia Sportage HEV sold 38,592 units, a 101.9% increase from the previous year, followed by the Kia Niro HEV with 24,143 units, the Hyundai Santa Fe HEV with 24,116 units, and the Kia Sorento HEV with 23,684 units.

In particular, Tucson, bolstered by the popularity of its HEV model, recorded a total of 209,624 sales last year, including internal combustion engine models, achieving annual sales of 200,000 units for the first time since its launch in the US. It is the first time since 2015 that a single model from Hyundai and Kia has surpassed annual sales of 200,000 units, following the Elantra (225,576 units) and Sonata (213,303 units).

Genesis’ strengthening foothold in the US luxury car market is also a key factor in brightening Hyundai and Kia’s outlook in the US market.

Last year, Genesis recorded sales of 69,175 units in the US, up 22.6% from the previous year. In particular, it achieved sales growth compared to the previous year for 14 consecutive months from November 2022 to the end of last year and has been showing rapid growth, recording double-digit sales growth rates for 11 consecutive months from February last year.

Although it still falls short of Lexus and BMW, which sold more than 300,000 units annually, as well as Audi (approximately 228,000 units) and Acura (145,000 units), in terms of annual sales volume, Genesis has been solidifying its position as a luxury brand in the US, about seven years after launching a separate brand in the US market in 2016.

Genesis has been recognized for its quality since its inception, winning the top premium brand in JD Power’s New Car Quality Survey (IQS) for four consecutive years from 2017 to 2020, and has been named the top premium brand five times in seven years until 2023 (2017~2020, 2022). It also topped the overall brand in the Durability Quality Survey (VDS) in 2020, the first year it was included in the survey, and ranked second in the overall brand last year, following Kia.

Genesis began expanding its sales lineup in earnest in 2021 by introducing SUV models such as the GV80 and GV70. From 2022, it added the GV60 and G80 electric models, and from last year, it began producing and selling the GV70 electric model at the Hyundai Alabama plant.

Hyundai and Kia’s strong performance in the RV segment, which accounts for the largest market share in the US, also shows that their customized product strategies are working well.

Last year, Hyundai and Kia sold a total of 1,218,108 RV models in the US, up 15.9% from the previous year. After surpassing 1 million units for the first time in 2022, RV sales increased even more last year, achieving a double-digit growth rate. The sales ratio also recorded an all-time high of 73.7%.

In 2018, the RV ratio exceeded 50% for the first time as sales of small SUV models such as Kona and Niro began in earnest, and new RV models such as Telluride and Palisade continued to post successful sales results. The number of RV models sold by Hyundai and Kia in the US also more than doubled from nine in 2018 to 20 last year.

From 2021, volume models such as Tucson, Santa Fe, Sportage, and Sorento have gained steady popularity as they have undergone generational changes, and the addition of HEV models has led to a sharp increase in RV model sales.

Automotive News estimates that the industry demand for the US car market in 2023 will be about 15 million units, and if the results of unannounced companies are announced, it is expected to record the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019.

The industry expects that the market has been in favor of suppliers until last year after the pandemic, but from this year, each company will fully recover from the impact of COVID-19, expand supply, and compete for promotion to secure the lead in the eco-friendly car market, predicting a buyer’s market.

Achieving cumulative sales of 1 million eco-friendly cars in the US is imminent

Hyundai and Kia plan to continue expanding sales in the US this year by further strengthening the strengths they have secured through business restructuring, focusing on eco-friendly cars and high-value-added vehicles. As a result, it is expected to achieve various ‘monumental’ sales records this year following last year.

Hyundai and Kia have sold a total of 946,962 eco-friendly cars in the US market since they started selling the Sonata and K5 HEV in 2011, reaching the threshold of 1 million cumulative sales. By type, ▲HEVs sold 759,926 units ▲Electric cars sold 194,279 units ▲Hydrogen electric cars sold 1,757 units.

Eco-friendly car sales are increasing significantly every year, and considering that they achieved annual sales of about 278,000 eco-friendly cars last year, it is highly likely that they will achieve cumulative sales of 1 million units within the first quarter. The achievement of cumulative sales of 200,000 electric cars is also imminent. In particular, this year, newly introduced electric cars are expected to lead the sale of eco-friendly cars.

The EV9, which was launched at the end of last year, was recently named the 2024 North American Car of the Year in the utility category, and the Ioniq 6, which was a finalist in the Car of the Year passenger car category, also set a record for the most sales in a single month last month, so a significant expansion in sales is expected this year.

In particular, the EV9 is expected to be produced at the existing plant in West Point, Georgia, in the second quarter of this year, and it is also expected to receive tax benefits from the IRA. In addition, while they have not yet confirmed the models, they are considering introducing additional electric car production locally at the Hyundai Alabama plant and the Kia Georgia plant.

In the second half of this year, Hyundai Motor Group’s electric car-only plant, Hyundai Motor Group Meta Plant America (HMGMA), is also scheduled to start operation. Hyundai and Kia originally aimed to start production in the first half of next year but decided to advance the start of operation to enhance their competitiveness in the increasingly fierce US electric car market, including the IRA.

Last year, Hyundai and Kia’s annual electric car sales were 94,340 units, unfortunately not surpassing the 100,000-unit threshold, but this year, with the expansion of sales of recently introduced electric car models, they are expected to surpass annual sales of 100,000 units for the first time.

Genesis, a luxury car brand, is also expected to achieve a meaningful record in the US this year. Even if it records a sales trend similar to last year, it is highly likely to achieve cumulative sales of 300,000 units in the US market around the third quarter.

Genesis, which was launched as a separate brand at the end of 2015, has recorded cumulative sales of 256,698 units in just over seven years since it started selling in August 2016 in the US market under the name G80, changing the name of the model previously sold as ‘Genesis’.

In 2021, after launching the GV70 and GV80 and achieving sales volumes more than three times that of the previous year, it recorded double-digit sales growth rates for two consecutive years until 2022, and each time a new car was launched, sales volumes increased significantly. This year, with the launch of the GV80 Coupe and the GV80 Product Improvement Model, the goal is to once again boost sales.

A Hyundai and Kia official explained, “The achievement of annual sales of 1.5 million units last year is a great achievement in terms of numbers, but the bigger significance is that Hyundai and Kia are now firmly established as ‘most favored brands’ that gladly open the wallets of American consumers with quality, product value, and brand power, not just as brands that are cheap and efficient, so-called ‘good value for money’.”