Hyundai's i10 hatchback tops 2 million in unit sales

Hyundai Motor’s i10

By Park Jin-hai

Sales of Hyundai Motor’s i10 hatchback passed 2 million in 2014, eight years after it was released, the automaker said Monday. Total sales were 2.01 million.

The hatchback was initially introduced in the Indian market in 2007, before entering other markets.

The model was a great success in India with 14, 956 sold in its first year. Nearly 1.89 million have been sold there in total.

Hyundai's Turkey plant began manufacturing a new i10 for the European market in 2013.

Since then the company has sold 119,631 i10 hatchbacks there.

“The i10 is as a good family car as the Sonata is in Korea. Regionally developed cars like the i10 in emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia and India have played a major role in Hyundai reaching 8 million in global sales last year,” said an official.

The first-generation i10 compact was developed in consideration of rough road conditions in local markets.

It was also equipped with passenger seat airbags, along with anti-lock breaking systems and seat belt pretensioners.

Hyundai and its sister firm Kia Motors have a strong lineup that is locally produced and sold within particular regions outside the home market.

The Yuedong compact in China, also known as the Elantra in other markets, is second to i10s in the category’s best-seller list, with the sales of 1.28 million cars.

Kia's Cee'd hatchback ranked the third after sales reached 968,848 in Europe over the past eight years.

Hyundai and Kia, together the world's fifth-largest auto conglomerate, sold a combined 8 million vehicles last year, of which 2.25 million, or about 28 percent, were regionally produced models for overseas markets, according to the official.