'Hyundai Motor will continue to expand US market share'

By Kim Hyun-bin

LAS VEGAS ― Hyundai Motor Group U.S. Chief Operating Officer (COO) Jose Munoz says the company has made some great strides in expanding its market share in the U.S. backed by strong sales of its SUV, electric vehicle (EV) and luxury lineups.

Jose Munoz, Hyundai Motor Group COO

“I believe that the three elements of SUVs, eco-friendly cars and luxury will enable us to continue our growth in the U.S. market,” Munoz said, during an interview with local reporters and The Korea Times at the Resort World Hotel in Las Vegas held during the Consumer Electronics Show 2022 (CES 2022) from Jan. 5 to 7. “It seems Hyundai Motor has surpassed Honda. We worked really hard to grow into the second-largest Asian brand in the U.S. after Toyota. This is just the beginning and I think there will be many opportunities to continue to grow in the future.”

Hyundai Motor Group recorded its highest sales performance ever in the U.S. market last year despite the global semiconductor supply shortage, even surpassing Japan's Honda to rank fifth in sales for the first time since entering the U.S. market.

Hyundai Motor, Kia and Genesis sold 1.48 million vehicles in the U.S. market, an increase of 21.6 percent from the previous year and the best sales performance of the Korean automotive group. The previous top performance was in 2016 selling 1.42 million vehicles.

Logo of Consumer Electronics Show / Courtesy of Consumer Technology Association

“One of the most important trends in the U.S. market is SUVs. We have a great portfolio such as Tucson, Santa Fe, and Santa Cruz, and SUVs account for about 65 percent of total sales,” Munoz said. “Looking at the sales proportion of our eco-friendly vehicles (HEV, PHEV, BEV), they account for about 10 percent of total sales, while Genesis' sales more than tripled compared to the previous year.”

Toyota, along with Hyundai Motor, gained great popularity in the U.S. market surpassing General Motors to take the top spot in sales. GM lost the lead for the first time since it overtook Ford in 1931. This year also marks the first time for a foreign carmaker to take the top spot in sales in the U.S. car market.

Although Hyundai was able to pull off record-breaking sales, there are still barriers such as logistics and chip shortage issues. Despite the difficulties, Munoz said, “Hyundai has responded better than our competitors by managing the supply chain and optimizing production,” leading to a smaller loss in production volume compared to competitors.

He also stressed the importance of expanding charging infrastructure to be able to continue its upward sales trend in the eco-friendly vehicle sector.

“Electric vehicle charging infrastructure is an important part of increasing electric vehicle sales. Hyundai Motor Company is also making great efforts to expand the charging infrastructure so that customers can easily charge,” he said. “We plan to build not only electric vehicle charging infrastructure but hydrogen car refueling infrastructure as well.”