Eco-friendly cars reboot Hyundai, Kia’s US sales in May

Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp., car manufacturers of the global No. 3 automaker Hyundai Motor Group, reported a rebound last month on sales in the US, the world’s second-largest automobile market, thanks to strong demand for their eco-friendly models and sport utility vehicles.

South Korean conglomerate Hyundai Motor Group said on Tuesday that Hyundai Motor Co.'s sales, including those of its premium brand Genesis, and Kia in the US rose 8.5% to 159,558 units in May from a year earlier.

Hyundai Motor Co. sold 84,402 vehicles, up 11.6%, with Genesis’s sales up 5.6% to 5,917 units, while Kia sold 75,156 cars, up 5.1%.

The two automakers suffered a drop in US sales in April for the second month in a row.

HYBRID, ELECTRIC

Eco-friendly cars – both hybrid and electric vehicles - boosted Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia’s US sales in May.

The South Korean leading carmakers sold a combined 34,288 eco-friendly models, a record high for a month, up 30.9%. The sales volume accounted for 21.5% of their total sales, topping the 20% mark for the first time.

Hyundai Motor Co.’s eco-friendly car sales soared 46.5% to 20,425 units with hybrid electric vehicles such as the Tucson Hybrid up 47.3% to an all-time high for a month of 13,245 units.

“We continue seeing great success in our eco-friendly line-up with an overall 50% increase YoY,” said Hyundai Motor America CEO Randy Parker in a statement.

The company plans to ramp up Korean production of the hybrid version of its Tucson SUV for exports to meet growing demand worldwide, especially in the US. Global automakers shifted their eco-friendly vehicle strategies to focus on hybrid cars as electric vehicle growth has recently lost steam on shrinking demand.

Kia’s eco-friendly car sales also grew 13.2% to a monthly record of 13,863 units.

Hyundai and Kia’s US EV sales soared 77.3% to 14,371 units despite the sluggish demand.

Kia sold 7,197 all-electric models, topping sales of Hyundai, with its flagship electric SUV EV9 logging record sales of 2,187 units. The Hyundai IONIQ 5 reported the largest monthly sales of 4,449 units.

SUVS RALLY

Hyundai and Kia’s SUV sales in the US increased 15.2% to a monthly record of 121,933 units in May.

The Tucson compact SUV was Hyundai’s best-selling model with sales of 17,371 units including 5,339 hybrid trims. The Santa Fe midsize SUV ranked No. 3 with sales of 10,997 units among the company’s lineup.

Kia sold 15,512 units of the Sportage compact SUV, including hybrid versions of 3,822 units, and 10,315 units of the Telluride midsize SUV.

“Kia offers a balanced mix of electric, hybrid and ICE models that are meeting customer demands, and we expect to see increased showroom traffic and transactions through dealers,” said Eric Watson, vice president of sales operations at Kia America, referring to internal combustion engines.

Compact sedans ranked No. 2 on each of the companies’ best-selling car lists. Hyundai sold 13,311 units of the Elantra, while Kia sold 13,132 units of the Forte.

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.