Coming of age: Kia outsells Hyundai in Korea & USA

In the year 2016, Kia, for the first time ever, outsold Hyundai in the passenger car segment in Korea - the automakers' home country. The company has also managed to maintain its lead over Hyundai for the first three months of 2017. Meanwhile, similar results were seen in the American markets as well, where Kia outsold its parent company for the first time in May 2017.

In Korea, Kia has always been a strong competitor to Hyundai in the passenger car segment. However, this is the first time ever when the manufacturer has managed to surpass the sales of its parent company. Kia's 2016 sales chart recorded 475,107 unit sales, as compared to Hyundai's corresponding figure of 418,303. This significant margin between Kia and Hyundai sales in Korea comes at a time when Hyundai is struggling to maintain its market share in its home country. The Korean automaker recorded a sales drop of 21% in 2016, as compared to the preceding year.

Kia started to creep closer to Hyundai's passenger vehicle sales in Korea from the year 2010. When Hyundai introduced its rather contemporary fluidic design philosophy across its portfolio of cars, it didn't receive a satisfactory response from the Korean audience. As a result, customers started to prefer Kia's conservative and European styling, which helped the car maker to improve its sales figures. Moreover, Kia and Hyundai share many components across their portfolio. However, products sold under the Kia brand are priced lower than their corresponding Hyundai rivals. As a result, customers started to notice that they were getting essentially the same car with a Kia badge at a lower price point. This too amounted for the rising preference towards Kia cars over Hyundai passenger vehicles.

Meanwhile, the American markets too have brought bad news for Hyundai. In May 2017, Kia sold 58,507 passenger vehicles in America, as compared to 58,259 units sold by Hyundai. The margin here is a lot smaller than what is being seen in Korea. However, both Korean automakers have experienced a drop in overall market share, which will surely be a sign of worry for the group's top bosses.

The Hyundai-Kia automotive group, which also includes the Genesis luxury car brand, recorded a year-on-year sales drop of 11.5% in May 2017. Hyundai has clearly suffered more than Kia, as the former recorded an 18% drop in sales, as compared to the latter's plunge of 7%. However, market experts suggest that Hyundai will be able to regain its market share in the coming months, thanks to some good sales numbers from the Tucson as well as the Ioniq hybrid. As a result, Kia outselling Hyundai is a sight that won't be seen frequently in the American markets.

Source: Forbes and The Truth About Cars