Hyundai, Kia post largest November sales in U.S.

Combined sales of South Korea’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its sister company Kia Motors Corp. reached a monthly high for November in the United States, thanks to brisk sales of compact cars and sport utility vehicles. 

Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors said on Friday that they sold a combined 115,011 units in the U.S. last month, up 9 percent from 105,560 units sold in the same period last year. The figure is significantly higher than the 3.6 percent average growth of other carmakers in the U.S. market during the same period. Among global auto manufacturers, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors ranked seventh in terms of monthly sales in the U.S. after General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp., Ford Motor Co., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., Honda Motor Co., and Nissan Motor Corp. 

Kia Motors’ on-year sales rose 15.3 percent to 52,504 units in November in the U.S. on strong demand for its compact Forte sedan and Sportage SUV. On-year sales of Forte - known as K3 in Korea - jumped a whopping 61.9 percent to 8,111 units and Sportage, 33.2 percent to 5,608 units in November, data showed. Sales of Soul, its compact multi-purpose vehicle that is a popular model in the North American market, went up 24.3 percent to 12,482 units while that of Sorento SUV increased 7.5 percent to 9,698 units during the same period. 

Hyundai Motor, meanwhile, sold 62,507 units in the U.S. in November, up 4.2 percent from a year ago. Sales of its popular SUVs Santa Fe and Tuscon jumped 17.8 percent and 10.3 percent, respectively. Data also showed that the automaker sold 327 units of its new flagship G90 sedan (EQ900 in Korea) of its recently launched luxury Genesis brand in November including its previous Equus sedan model, marking the first time for the automaker to sell 300 or more units in a single month after December 2014. 

Last month, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors accounted for a combined 8.3 percent market share in the U.S., maintaining the market share of 8 percent or above for a seventh consecutive month. Hyundai’s share was 4.5 percent while that of Kia’s 3.8 percent. In the January-November period, the two automakers sold a combined 1,305,945 units in the U.S. market, up 2.8 percent from the same period last year, accounting for 8.2 percent of the U.S. auto market.

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