Hyundai and Kia are now 3rd largest automakers in the world; 3.3m vehicles sold in first half of 2022

The Hyundai Motor Group, including Kia, announced that they sold 3.3 million vehicles in the first half of 2022, making them the world’s third-largest automaker in terms of volume.

Hyundai Motor Group came in after the Volkswagen Group, which sold 4 million vehicles to rank second. Toyota still ranks first with 5.1 million vehicles sold. Meanwhile, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance came in fourth, selling 3.14 million vehicles.

This is a huge jump for the Korean company as they only ranked fifth in the first half of 2021.

In July alone, the Hyundai brand sold 325,999 globally, a 4 percent increase year on year. Outside of Korea, Hyundai sold 269,694 units, this is a 6.3 percent increase from 2021 despite the global component shortages.

Meanwhile, Hyundai’s sales in Korea recorded 56,305 units, which is a 5.9 percent drop year-on-year. Leading the charge are Hyundai’s SUV models, which sold 15,371 units.

Other than that, Hyundai’s sales record is also largely helped by the booming electric vehicle (EV) sales. The company is fast solidifying its status as a global EV leader as Hyundai sold 16,000 EVs in July alone.

Also read: Hyundai's delivered close to 200 EVs in Malaysia, takes owners on a drive to celebrate

This is a 24 percent increase from last year, with more than 8,000 units of the Ioniq 5 leading the way.

As for Kia, the Kia Sportage leads the charge as the brand sold 39,886 units globally in July alone. Outside of Korea, Kia recorded sales of 206,548 units, up 6.2 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, the company recorded a sales figure of 51,335 units sold in July 2022 domestically. This is a 6.6 percent increase from July 2021. In Korea however, it is not the Sportage that led sales but the Kia Sorento, selling 6,940 units in July.

Kia’s pure electric vehicle, the Kia EV6, is also a large contributor to the blooming sales record. Kia sold 8,171 units of EVs globally in July. In the second quarter, retail sales of Kia’s BEV models accounted for 44,000 units, a 98 percent increase year-on-year.

Also read: SUVs rule the world: Sportage and Seltos led Kia's global sales in March 2022

According to Bloomberg, Hyundai Motor Group sold 27,000 EVs in the US market between January and May of this year. The Group is now only second after Tesla in terms of the sale of EVs in the States.

An automobile industry official told Korea Times that Hyundai Motor Group’s potential to use the unprecedented crisis in the automobile industry as an opportunity. Hyundai has already put plans into action to overcome the potential supply shortage of semiconductors.

Also read: Fed up with semiconductor shortage threat, Hyundai-Kia accelerates plans to produce own chips