Hyundai Motor narrows global car sales ranking gap with Toyota

Hyundai Motor Group CI

Hyundai Motor Group maintained its position as the world’s third-largest automaker by sales volume for the first half of 2024 and continues to close the gap with top-ranked Toyota. Hyundai has held its third-place position for three consecutive years since breaking into the global “Big 3” in 2022.

Industry reports released on Wednesday indicate that Hyundai and Kia sold a combined total of 3,615,915 vehicles globally in the first half of 2024. This performance places them behind Toyota Group, which sold 5,162,442 units, and Volkswagen Group, with 4,348,000 units. The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance secured fourth place with 3,290,000 units, followed by Stellantis with 2,870,000 units and General Motors (GM) with 2,780,000 units.

The key driver for Hyundai Motor Group’s sustained third-place ranking has been its strong overseas sales. Hyundai and Kia sold about 610,000 vehicles in South Korea in the first half of 2024, down 9.8 percent from the same period during the previous year. In contrast, their overseas sales increased by 1 percent to hit around 3 million units. Hyundai and Kia also performed exceptionally well in the United States, their largest car market. Hyundai set a new record by selling over 430,000 vehicles, while Kia sold over 380,000 vehicles in the first half of the year.

Despite increasing competition from Chinese automakers in international markets, Hyundai Motor Group’s global sales fell by only 1.1 percent in the first half of 2024.

For its part, Toyota, the world’s top automaker by sales volume, saw a 4.7 percent decrease in its first-half sales compared to the previous year. Toyota’s sales in China dropped significantly from 880,000 units in the first half of 2023 to 780,000 units this year. Toyota attributed the decline to ongoing challenges in the market, including a shift to EVs and other new energy vehicles as well as intense price competition. China is Toyota’s second-largest market after the United States, but as local Chinese automakers gain prominence with electric vehicles, Toyota is losing ground as it remains heavily invested in internal combustion engines.

Volkswagen Group is also struggling in the Chinese market, with the group’s sales in China fell from 1.45 million units in the first half of 2023 to 1.34 million units this year. Luxury brand Porsche saw a 39.3 percent drop in sales from 43,832 units to 29,551 units during the same period.

Hyundai Motor Group’s earlier setbacks in China have turned into a strategic advantage. The group faced a significant drop in sales in 2017, due to China’s retaliation against South Korea’s deployment of the THAAD missile defense system. Hyundai has diversified its market presence since then, offsetting reduced Chinese sales with increased sales in India, the United States, and Europe as well as reducing its dependence on the Chinese market.

Excluding China, Hyundai Motor Group is ranked second globally in sales behind Toyota. Toyota Group sold 4.37 million units outside China in the first half of 2024, followed by Hyundai Motor Group with 3.49 million units, and Volkswagen Group with 3 million units. The sales gap between Toyota and Hyundai in markets outside China narrowed from 1.04 million units in 2023 to 880,000 units this year.