Hyundai Now Ranked as Third Largest Automaker in the World
Hyundai Motor Group, which includes the Genesis and Kia brands, has grown into a juggernaut over the past 55 years, but particularly during the last decade. And now, believe it or not, the Korean automaker ranks third globally.
After surpassing General Motors, Nissan and Stellantis, only Toyota and Volkswagen are ahead in terms of annual sales volumes.
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“We are on the right track, and this year we were very strong,” President and co-Chief Executive Officer Jaehoon Chang told Bloomberg in a recent interview. “Our supply chain management was key. We’re trying to be flexible, and optimize and protect production as much as we can in spite of the chip shortage.”
We’re a bit surprised by that last statement. Remember, back in April, the combined backlog of vehicles at Hyundai and Kia topped one million vehicles according to a report by The Korea Times.
Last year, Hyundai Motor Group sold 6.6 million vehicles globally, and just over a fifth of those sales were in North America, its biggest single market. For 2022, revenue is on track to expand 21 percent, which would be the highest growth rate among major automakers according to the average of analysts’ projections as calculated by Bloomberg.
In Ulsan, South Korea, Hyundai operates the largest vehicle assembly plant on the planet with an annual production capacity of 1.4 million vehicles. It also makes its own steel and controls its shipping vessels.
There are nine other Hyundai plants around the globe, not to mention a few new EV and battery factories coming up by mid-decade including in the U.S.
In related news, Montreal's Karim Habib, the Lebanese-Canadian who graduated from McGill University, has just been promoted to Executive Vice President at HMG. He will continue to serve as head of Kia global design.
