South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Company is now the world’s third-largest automaker by volume. Only Toyota and Volkswagen built more cars this year. Hyundai slipped past General Motors in 2022, according to Bloomberg.
A Long Way to Go to Catch Toyota
Final tallies of sales results can lag for months. Through the first half of 2022, BusinessKorea notes, Hyundai sold about 3.3 million cars globally. Japan’s Toyota sold more than 5.1 million, with Germany’s Volkswagen taking second with about 4 million vehicles.
Here, we should point to a distinction between automakers and brands. Manufacturers sell cars under dozens of brands. But most of those brands are owned by just a handful of larger companies. General Motors, for instance, operates Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC (and perhaps soon, separate Camaro, Corvette, and Escalade brands.)
So, when analysts say Volkswagen is the world’s second-largest automaker, they don’t mean the VW badge is on more cars than almost any other. Volkswagen sells cars globally, under the Volkswagen, Škoda, Seat, Cupra, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Porsche brands, as well as Ducati motorcycles. Totaling all of those sales gets it to second place.
Hyundai made it to the podium with three badges – Hyundai, Kia, and the Genesis luxury brand. Bloomberg says that all three have built a significant presence in North America, accounting for 21% of Hyundai’s global sales.
Hyundai Has Some Electric Hits, but a Problem With U.S. Law
As the automotive industry shifts its focus toward electric cars, Hyundai Motor Company has a couple of hits on its hands. The Hyundai Ioniq 5, an all-electric SUV with a funky, pixelated look and surprising cabin space for its midsize footprint, has won accolades. They include the 2022 World Car of the Year prize and, more importantly, our own Best New Model trophy.
The Kia EV6, which uses many of the same parts, has also been an early sales success, with its more aggressive look and 576-horsepower high-performance GT trim.
But there’s a speed bump in their way – new federal tax law offers a $7,500 tax rebate on electric cars built in North America. Hyundai makes the Ioniq 5 and EV6 in its home country, South Korea.
The company recently broke ground on a new electric car factory in the U.S. state of Georgia. It’s one of several automakers to move EV production to the U.S. after Congress passed the law. But car factories can take several years to build. While Hyundai prepares, rivals already producing in the U.S. may chip away at the company’s standing here.
