Hyundai Motor Company, 49,001 Units Sold in June
Kia Achieves Record High with 24,024 Units Sold
[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Hyundai Motor and Kia have shown strong performance in India, the world's 5th largest automobile market.
According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on the 7th, Hyundai Motor sold 49,001 units in June, a 21% increase compared to the same period last year, ranking 2nd in market share behind the local brand Maruti. This reclaimed the monthly sales 2nd place position from Tata, which Hyundai had lost in May, within just one month.
Kia also sold 24,024 units in June, a 60% increase compared to the same period last year. This is the highest monthly sales record since Kia entered the Indian market in 2019, surpassing the previous record of 22,622 units in March this year.
Hyundai Motor maintained 2nd place in overall sales for the first half of the year, selling 267,967 units, following Maruti's 765,887 units. Kia recorded its highest half-year sales ever by selling 121,823 units in the first half of this year, a 25.5% increase compared to the same period last year. The previous half-year record was 90,734 units in the first half of last year.
Hyundai Motor's strong performance in the Indian market was led by the mid-size sport utility vehicles (SUVs) Creta and Venue. The Creta sold 13,790 units last month, ranking 1st in sales within the same segment. This is the second-highest monthly sales volume since October 2020, when it recorded 14,023 units. The Creta also ranked 1st in its segment for the first half of this year with 67,421 units sold.
The Venue sold 10,321 units last month in the largest segment of the Indian automobile market, the compact SUV segment. In the first half of this year, it sold 57,822 units, a 5.8% increase compared to the same period last year, ranking 2nd behind Tata's main model, the Nexon.
Kia's popularity is driven by the mid-size SUV Seltos and the mid-size multipurpose vehicle (MPV) Carens, which started sales this year. The Seltos recorded 96,932 units in 2020 and 98,187 units last year, maintaining steady popularity with 48,320 units sold in the first half of this year. The Carens sold 30,953 units in the first half of this year, ranking 2nd in the MPV segment behind Maruti's Ertiga.
A Hyundai Motor and Kia official said, "The Indian automobile market is recovering quickly from COVID-19 and is expected to exceed 3.3 million units recorded in 2018 this year. We will strengthen our market dominance by early introduction of electric vehicles such as the Ioniq 5 and EV6 to capture the electric vehicle market."
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