Hyundai Motor Group solidifies position as No.3 automaker in world

The Hyundai-Kia partnership produced 7.3 million vehicles in 2023 to widen the gap with the rest of the pack.

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung delivers a New Year's message at Kia's AutoLand in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi, earlier in the year. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Hyundai Motor Group maintained its No. 3 position in the global market last year, widening its gap with the fourth-ranked Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and beating General Motors.

The group has retained the spot for the second year in a row since the combined sales of Hyundai Motor and Kia reached the top three in the global market in 2022, 47 years after Hyundai produced its first vehicle, the Pony.

The automakers sold a total of 7.3 million vehicles globally last year, up 6.7 percent on year, placing third after Toyota Motor and Volkswagen Group.

Toyota was No. 1 with 11.2 million units and Volkswagen was in the second position with 9.2 million.

The Hyundai-Kia group widened its gap with the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, whose sales grew 4 percent to 6.2 million units in 2023, and also beat General Motors with 6.19 million vehicles and Stellantis at 6.18 million units.

The Korean automaker was in the fifth position for more than a decade from 2010, when it first beat Ford. It moved up to fourth in 2020 but inched back down to fifth the following year.

The strong performance was largely attributed to high-margin Genesis cars and EVs.

Hyundai posted an all-time high operating profit of 15.13 trillion won ($11.4 billion) for 2023, up 54 percent on year, while Kia also hit a new record with 11.6 trillion won.

Hyundai Motor ranked first in terms of operating income among Korean companies last year, with Kia coming in second, dethroning Samsung Electronics in financial performance among Korean firms for the first time in 14 years.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]