À̹ÌÁö È®´ë Hyundai Motor"s Venue SUV. [Photo by Hyundai Motor Group]
India has become a buffer market for South Korean auto conglomerate Hyundai Motor Group for the losses in war-engaged Russia and China in slowdown from pandemic lockdowns.
According to industry sources on Sunday, Hyundai Motor Co. sold a total of 218,966 cars from January to May in India, the second-best selling brand in the country after Japan¡¯s Maruti Suzuki. The company kept to No. 2 in India since 2016.
Kia Corp. reported sales of 97,799 units in the first five months, making up a 6.4 percent share in the market versus 1.5 percent in 2019.
India has emerged as an important market to Hyundai Motor Group since its Russian factory stopped production in March in the wake of Russia¡¯s attack on Ukraine in late February. Hyundai Motor¡¯s auto sales in Russia plunged 48 percent to 37,092 units in the January-May period, and Kia down 53 percent to 41,868 units.
¡°Hyundai Motor Group is expected to focus more on India and North America to offset losses in Russia,¡± said Moon Yong-kwon, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities.
India-customized compact EV model also is under development to better appeal to local drivers, according to sources.
The Korean auto conglomerate has struggling to restore its presence in China through premium and green vehicles.
Hyundai Motor and its Chinese partner BAIC Motor recently injected additional 1 trillion won ($777.5 million) in their joint-venture Beijing Hyundai Motor. Kia and its Chinese partner Jiangsu Yueda Group also announced a 1 trillion won capital injection for their Chinese joint-venture Dongfeng Yueda Kia Motor.
Last year, Hyundai Motor Group launched its luxury Genesis brand in China for competitiveness through premium appeal. Genesis this year is preparing releases of the G90 and the GV70 Electrified with the all-electric GV60 on the self-developed EV-dedicated platform E-GMP.
Hyundai and Kia are also going all-out to penetrate deeper into the North American EV market. Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 both built on the E-GMP sold a combined 21,467 units up to May this year in the United States, the second-largest among all EV brands after EV giant Tesla.
Hyundai Motor shares jumped 5.78 percent to close at 183,000 won on Monday in Seoul trading, while Kia gained 4.39 percent to end at 80,900 won.
By Lee Sae-ha and Lee Ha-yeon
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]