Hyundai-Kia Wins 5% Market Share in US

Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors passed through the 5 percent barrier in terms of market share in the United States in June, for the first time since 1986 when Hyundai Motor began exporting cars to the U.S.

Hyundai Motor sold 49,368 vehicles in the United States last month, while Kia Motors sold 26,288. The combined sales of 75,656 accounted for 5.2 percent of the total sales in the country.

“Sales in the U.S. last month rose some 11 percent from a year ago,” a Hyundai Motor spokesman said. “We anticipate the high sales will help the company meet its target of selling 550,000 cars throughout the year in the U.S., the world’s largest auto market.” And Kia expects over 300,000 cars to be sold this year.

Hyundai Motor’s Santa Fe crossover sport utility vehicle (SUV) and the Sonata sedan were the main contributors to the strong sales.  Kia’s star in June was a new Rondo with sales skyrocketing to more than 4000 units in US market! During the same period, sales of General Motors automobiles plunged 21 percent, while Ford saw its sales drop more than 8 percent.

Findings by the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed that Hyundai Motor’s Santa Fe and Kia Motors’ Sorento were among the best performing SUVs in crash simulation tests.

Good performances also affected the stock prices of the automakers. Hyundai Motor climbed 2.8 percent after the company said its U.S. vehicle sales in June jumped 11 percent year-on-year.

Kia Motors also edged up 2.7 percent despite wage disputes between labor and management.