Hyundai Motor and Kia Melt Frozen US Market... January Sales Surpass 100,000 Units

Hyundai Motor Group Surpasses 15% Share of Eco-Friendly Vehicles in U.S. Sales

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] Hyundai Motor Group set a record by surpassing 100,000 units sold in the U.S. automobile market in January. Recently, the U.S. auto market has contracted due to economic recession and interest rate hikes. In response, Hyundai and Kia actively increased the share of eco-friendly vehicle sales to 15%.

On the 2nd, Hyundai Motor Group announced that it sold 107,889 units in the U.S. during January. Hyundai sold 55,906 units (including 3,905 Genesis vehicles), an 8.5% increase compared to the same month last year, while Kia sold 51,983 units, a 22.3% increase.

This is the first time that Hyundai and Kia’s combined U.S. sales in January exceeded 100,000 units. Typically, vehicle sales decline in January in the U.S. as well. However, Hyundai and Kia each surpassed 50,000 units in sales, setting new all-time records.

Hyundai Motor Group also performed well compared to Japanese car brands competing in the U.S. market. In January, Toyota sold 134,392 units, a 14.8% decrease from the previous year. Meanwhile, Honda showed sales growth similar to Hyundai Motor Group at 14.3%.

Kia Niro EV
Photo by Kia

The reason Hyundai Motor Group was able to increase sales in the U.S. in January was mainly due to the expansion of the eco-friendly vehicle share. Hyundai and Kia sold 16,563 eco-friendly vehicles in the U.S. in January, a remarkable 53.5% increase compared to the same period last year.

The share of eco-friendly vehicles in total sales also exceeded 15% for the first time. Among them, electric vehicles surged 108% year-over-year to 4,387 units, and hybrid vehicles increased 40.4% to 12,160 units sold.

By model, sales of popular existing U.S. market models such as Hyundai Avante and Sonata increased significantly due to improved supply. In particular, sales of the Avante hybrid model increased by 574% compared to the previous year. The Santa Fe also set a record for the highest monthly sales ever with 1,312 units sold, driven by expanded hybrid model sales. Kia began full-scale sales of the new electric vehicle Niro EV. The Niro EV recovered to a monthly sales volume of about 1,000 units within seven months.