[RahulNagaraj]

For the first time, South Korean carmaker Hyundai has become the 3rd largest automaker in terms of global sales volume.

According to reports, Hyundai registered sales of 6.845 million units worldwide in 2022. This puts Hyundai behind Toyota & Volkswagen Group, which registered 10.483 million & 8.481 million units of global sales, respectively.



The Korean carmaker beat the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, which came in 4th place with 6.157 million units of worldwide sales. Below this were General Motors & Stellantis, which registered sales of a little over 5.8 million units each.

Sales of the Hyundai Motor Group have been steadily increasing over the past couple of decades. The carmaker was ranked 4th in 2020 before slipping to 5th in 2021 and now rising again to the top-3. Reports also suggested that Hyundai was the only carmaker that experienced a rise in sales last year - a 2.7% increase; when compared to others which witnessed a decline. Toyota sales were down by 0.1%, Volkswagen by 1.1%, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance by 14.1%, and General Motors by 5.7%.

Source: Hankyoreh

Link to Team-BHP news

[trail_lover]

I suppose, The Hyundai group also includes the Kia brand. In my view given below could be the reasons why they have become No.3 in global sales:

1. They make their models aspirational, with their design language giving birth to tasteful futuristic designs.

2. Focus on cabin comfort and convenience, with interiors of Hyundai cars being best-in- the-segment in most segments. Even cars in B segment and C segment have very low levels of noise in the cabin well insulated from engine noise, wind noise and road noise. Off late their cars are tight as drum for the 1st 1 lakh km at least with no vibrations felt at the driver seat.

3. Accurate market research, giving exactly what the customer wants. Filling up the gaps and white-spaces left by competitors. They do it in a very agile way timing their market entry correctly several years before competitors have entered that segment or have created such a segment. Hyundai is the creator of the C-segment SUV space in India, namely the Creta.

4. Rapid feature upgradations, by way of frequent refreshes. For a given price, Hyundai & Kia offer the largest set of cabin comfort and convenience features enabled by electronics.

5. Among the BEST in the Indian non-premium passenger car market offering ergonomics and aesthetics, at par with VW group. Some models have dashboard and instrument cluster comparable with premium segment cars.

6. Hyundai is usually the leader which trickles down premium features into lower segment models, being first in segment to introduce a premium feature. For instance, the first to bring Android Auto and LED DRLs in B segment on Grand i10.

7. Hyundai cars are not durable or reliable as a Toyota, but they don't over-engineer their products. In the sense, they try to give an all-round package which would be reliable for 6 to 8 years, the average ownership period of a vehicle these days.

8. In India, on the safety front we have seen that they are usually 2 to 3 star GNCAP range on an average for B segment cars, but purportedly higher than 3 star safety ratings in C and D segment. Still to be verified completely. This is something that they should improve on.

[dpaul]

Originally Posted by trail_lover

Hyundai is the creator of the C-segment SUV space in India, namely the Creta.

Agree with all your observations except the one thing mentioned above. The distinction of the creator of the C-SUV space in India must go to Renault with it's Duster model.

Hyundai has got the pulse of the market. Its car's may not be as solid as the ones from Volkswagen or as durable as a Toyota, but they are not far behind. And this is shown by the trust which the masses put in their products.

Regards

[Nagesh Bhatt]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

For the first time, South Korean carmaker Hyundai has become the 3rd largest automaker in terms of global sales volume.

According to reports, Hyundai registered sales of 6.845 million units worldwide in 2022. This puts Hyundai behind Toyota & Volkswagen Group, which registered 10.483 million & 8.481 million units of global sales, respectively.

Attachment 2431207

The Korean carmaker beat the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, which came in 4th place with 6.157 million units of worldwide sales. Below this were General Motors & Stellantis, which registered sales of a little over 5.8 million units each.

Link to Team-BHP news[/url][/b]

This is such a WOW factor ! Hyundai motors, albeit silently, behind the back of the giants, Toyota & VW, just climbed up the steps & achieved this distinction.

Have they ever figured in a huge controversy just like the VW ? No ! They have steadfastly produced VFM cars with great features, identified their core competence ( Hatchbacks & Mid level sedans) & provided excellent service & thus retained their loyal client base.

They arrived in India at the turn of the year 2000 & despite great competition from existing traditional rivals like Tata, Mahindra, Fiat, Toyota & have gone on to claim the no. 2 position firmly backed by fantastic products, Santro, Grande I10, I20, Verna, Creta, Venue etc. They have always made it a point to make their vehicles feature rich even before the target audience asked for it, is probably the key to success backed of course by an excellent service management.

Whenever i ask my son who lives abroad or my relatives what cars they see on the road, Hyundai features in one of the two car companies everywhere, be if Hyundai or Kia.

Very well done Hyundai !

[trail_lover]

Originally Posted by dpaul

Agree with all your observations except the one thing mentioned above. The distinction of the creator of the C-SUV space in India must go to Renault with it's Duster model.

I stand corrected on this, because Duster was a car with length around 4.3 m and hence I guess it can be called C segment. Usually B segment SUVs are sub 4 metres. Can't even imagine that the Ford Ecosport and Renault Duster who ushered in the so called soft-roader SUV era are gone! I have a lot of respect for the Duster. I did a post on the product over here some time back.

On the other hand what is mysterious was that I've never seen the sales of the Duster cross 1500 units per month even at its peak of popularity. Hyundai with the Creta and it's sales crossing 10,000 units per month mark some months, made everyone take note of the C segment SUV, that there's indeed some money to be made in that segment. Until then the belief was that there is not much potential in that segment. Hyundai's innovative broad varianting strategy of Creta did the trick for them and got them a foothold in the C segment.