Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. achieved record sales in the U.S. during the first half of this year, with sales of nearly 790,000 new vehicles, excluding Genesis.

According to the Korean automakers’ U.S. subsidiaries, combined sales for both companies totaled 788,946 new vehicles in the U.S. between January and June, which is a 16.5 percent year-on-year increase from the 677,207 units sold in the first half of last year. This year’s sales figure surpassed their previous first-half record set in 2021, when they sold 785,646 vehicles.

The performance was attributed to a significant increase in Kia’s sales volume. In the first half of this year, Hyundai Motor’s U.S. subsidiary sold a total 394,613 units, a 3.1 percent drop compared with 407,135 units in the first half of 2021. Kia’s U.S. subsidiary, on the other hand, sold 394,333 units, a 4.2 percent increase compared with 378,511 units in the first half of 2021. Kia has now set a new record for the highest monthly sales for 11 months in a row until June.

One of the notable elements in their strong performance this year is the sales of their sports utility vehicles (SUVs). Among all vehicles sold by both companies in the first half in the U.S., SUVs accounted for 72.5 percent. Kia sold 282,625 SUVs in the U.S. in the first half, selling 25 percent more compared with 226,140 units last year. With this year’s sales, Kia’s proportion of SUV sales in the U.S. increased by 3.9 percentage points to 71.7 percent, up from 67.8 percent during the same period last year. SUVs are known to be generally more profitable for automakers as they are priced higher than comparable sedans.

“Sales of key SUV models have increased as the production of certain models that were in short supply during the pandemic has improved,” said Eric Watson, the vice president of the sales operations at Kia’s U.S. subsidiary. “The growth momentum will continue as we are planning to release EV9, our new large electric SUV model, in the second half of this year.”

Hyundai Motor and Kia sold a total of 25,214 units of electric vehicles in the U.S. in the first half, a 4 percent decline year-on-year from 26,260 units. However, the monthly sales volume of those EVs has been increasing, with a total of 5,756 units sold by both companies in June, a 1.8 percent increase from the previous month. In June, Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 achieved its highest monthly sales with 3,136 units and Ioniq 6 exceeded 1,000 units in monthly sales for the first time with 1,162 units sold.

Hyundai Motor Group is actively utilizing the tax credits given for commercial vehicles to cope with the changes under the recently introduced U.S. Inflation Reduction Act.

By Moon Gwang-min and Chang Iou-chung

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]