Hyundai-Kia’s share in U.S. auto market at double digit first time

[Photo by Lee Chung-woo]

The combined share of South Korea’s two major automakers Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. under Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) topped 10 percent in the United States for the first time last year, retaining its position as the fifth largest automaking group for two years in a row, data showed Monday.

According to a report released by Cox Automotive, a leading automotive service organization, Hyundai Motor and Kia have sold a combined 1.47 million new cars in the U.S. in 2022, accounting for 10.6 percent of the entire market. This is up 0.7 percentage point from 9.9 percent in 2021.

It is the first time for the auto-making giant to achieve double-digit market share in the U.S., 35 years after its foray into the world’s second largest auto market. It took 45 years for Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. to achieve the same milestone.

HMG was able to widen the gap with Japan’s Honda Motor Co. that came in sixth in market share last year after selling 970,000 cars in the U.S. Honda’s share fell 2.7 percentage points on year to 7.1 percent in 2022. HMG on the other hand managed to chase closely behind No. 4 multinational Stellantis Group by 0.5 percentage point from 1.9 percentage points in 2021. Stellantis was created by a merger of 18 automotive brands, including Jeep, Chrysler, and Dodge.

Top three brands were General Motors Co. with a 16.3 percent market share, Toyota Group with 15.3 percent, and Ford Motor Co. with 13.3 percent.

Overall car sales in the U.S. fell 8 percent on year to 13.86 million units in 2022, data showed. GM was the only automaker among the top five whose car sales added from a year prior. Sales at Stellantis fell 13.2 percent, Toyota Group 9 percent, Ford 2.9 percent, and HMG 1.2 percent.

Electric vehicle manufacturers on the other hand such as Tesla enjoyed a 48.9 percent surge in sales and Rivian a whopping 3,152 percent.

HMG has been able to expand its presence in the U.S. through differentiation in design and quality competitiveness such as in durability, safety, and convenience. Its flagship electric vehicle Ioniq 5 also earned EV of the Year Award from U.S. auto magazine Car and Driver last year after beating out 19 other models including Audi e-tron GT, BMW i4 iX, and Ford Mustant Mach-E GT.