Hyundai Motor suffered more than 10 percent in its U.S. car sales last month, while Kia Motors achieved record-high monthly sales there during the same period.
Hyundai Motor’s flagship models such as Avante and Tucson became outdated, making it lag behind in the competition against other car makers of the United States, Japan and Europe who enjoyed strong performance thanks to low oil prices and the decline in the value of the yen and euro.
According to industry sources on June 3, Hyundai Motor sold 63,610 units in the U.S. market last month, down 10.3 percent from a year ago. In contrast, its affiliate Kia Motors saw its U.S. monthly sales reach an all-time high at 62,433 units, up 3.9 percent year on year.
The U.S. sales gap between Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors became tightly narrowed to about 1,000 units. The overall U.S. car market grew by 1.6 percent last month. The combined market share of the two South Korean car makers in the United States fell to 7.7 percent in May from 8.3 percent in April, sliding to the 7 percent level, first in 3 months.
Hyundai Motor’s market share in America fell to 3.9 percent from 4.7 percent, while that of Kia Motors rose to 3.8 percent from 3.7 percent.
