Hyundai-Kia aims for 10% market share in US

For Hyundai Motor Company, which marks its 40th anniversary next week, the 2007 was a significant year for another reason.

In June, the automaker achieved a 5 percent market share in the United States along with its affiliate Kia Motors for the first time in history.

Hyundai Motor, the top South Korean carmaker, which entered the U.S. market about 20 years ago, sold 49,368 cars in that month, while Kia Motors sold 26,288 cars to post a combined monthly market share of 5.2 percent.

Industry sources generally agree that once an automaker’s market share exceeds the 5 percent level in a country, the player has the potential to reach 10 percent in the foreseeable future.

With the improved brand image, Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group now has a goal to sell 1.65 million cars in the U.S. ? 1 million cars for Hyundai Motor and 650,000 cars for Kia Motors ? from 2010 to grab an annual market share of 8.6 percent.

Latest Feats

Hyundai Motor’s accumulated sales in the United States broke the 5 million mark last July, an achievement in about two decades since it advanced to the world’s largest automobile market with its Excel in 1986.

If its mid-size Sonata achieved the landmark 1 million in sales this month, Hyundai Motor will have 3 million-seller brands in the U.S. market including the Excel, which sold 1.14 million before retirement in 1996, and the Elantra, which sold 1.22 million until last month.

Company officials ascribe the latest feats largely to the group’s globalization strategies and continuous efforts to improve the quality of its products, which are inevitable for the survival in a business environment characterized by fierce global competition.

Hyundai Motor, in particular, has made every effort to develop high value-added vehicles to pull up its sales and net profits. The Hyundai Genesis represents the direction the company should follow to survive the global competition.

Developed under the project-name “BH,’’ the Genesis is a new rear-wheel drive, full-size luxury sedan, which debuted as a concept car for the 2007 New York International Auto Show and was unveiled at home last month.

Hyundai Motor’s image abroad had been confined to being recognized as a brand selling relatively low-priced vehicles, compared with other global makers such as BMW and Toyota.

But the South Korean automaker is now pitching the Genesis sedan squarely at BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus. Hyundai Motor has a good reason to expect better sales, given the mediocre sales of its near-luxury Azera sedan ? known here as the Grandeur.

US Recognition

Hyundai Motor’s efforts to enhance quality have already been recognized. Santa Fe, for example, has taken top place in the mid-size sport utility vehicle (SUV) category six times in the past seven years in the annual Vehicle Satisfaction Awards by AutoPacific Inc.

Motor Trend, a leading car magazine, also praised the 2007 Veracruz over Japan’s luxury SUV Lexus RX350. The Veracruz was rounded up as ranking first place in terms of design, interior, price and speed, beating out the Japanese crossover utility vehicle.

In September, Hyundai Motor won the 2007 Ideal Vehicle Award of the AutoPacific, a noted U.S. automotive research and consulting firm, in four product segments including the Most Ideal Premium Mid-Size Car with its Sonata sedan.

More recently, four Hyundai and Kia minivans and SUVs including Santa Fe, Veracruz, Entourage and Sedona were selected as the “safest’’ cars along with 30 other brands last month by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the United States.

“We have a longer-term vision to take a second leap in the coming few years through the enhancement of quality, development of new cars such as hybrid vehicles and improvement of profitability,” said a group spokesman. [Source: Koreatimes]