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The Hyundai Grandeur sits in a showroom in Seoul. (Yonhap)

The Hyundai Motor Group has moved up to third in the world for automobile sales behind Japan’s Toyota Group and Germany’s Volkswagen Group.

The Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) and sources at different automobile companies said Wednesday that the Hyundai Motor group sold 6.845 million automobiles throughout the world in 2022.

This ranks the group third in the world behind the Toyota Group (10.483 million automobiles) and Volkswagen Group (8.481 million). It marks the first time the Hyundai Motor Group was included in the top three.

The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance (combining France’s Renault with Japan’s Nissan and Mitsubishi) came in fourth with 6.157 million vehicles sold. Next on the list were the US company General Motors (5.939 million) and Stellantis (5.839 million). Stellantis is an automotive group formed in 2021 through a merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the PSA Group.

The Hyundai Motor Group has seen its global sales ranking steadily rise over the past two decades, surpassing Ford in 2010 to enter the top five. It ranked fourth in 2020 before sliding back to fifth in 2021. This top-three finish came just one year later.

The Hyundai Motor Group was also the only one that experienced a rise in sales at a time when other major automakers’ sales have fallen due to issues with semiconductor and component supplies. Last year, Hyundai Motor’s sales increased by 2.7% over the year before, while sales were down for Toyota (-0.1%), Volkswagen (-1.1%), the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance (-14.1%), and GM (-5.7%).

In particular, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance experienced a more than 10% decline in sales that led to it switching spots with Hyundai Motor Group.

Analysts said the numbers represent concrete results from Hyundai Motor Group’s past efforts to boost quality.

Indeed, the group topped the Toyota Group and GM to finish in first place overall for two years running in automobile quality and reliability rankings by the US market research firm J.D. Power, including the latest in 2023. Quality and reliability rankings are calculated by tallying the number of complaints reported in 184 areas by drivers who purchased their vehicle at least three years earlier.

While some observers cautioned against reading too much into subjective consumer assessments, others said the findings were significant in showing changing attitudes among overseas consumers, who see no issues with the quality of Hyundai Motor vehicles. In other words, drivers increasingly perceive the cars as ones they can be confident about purchasing.

Lee Hang-gu, director of the Jeonbuk Institute of Automotive Convergence Technology, said the results “show that the competitiveness of the Hyundai Motor Group’s internal combustion engine vehicles has really increased.”

But he added, “With the decline of internal combustion engine vehicles and the arrival of an era of electric vehicles and other future cars, they will need to actively pursue investment and talent to hold on to their global third place ranking.”

By Ahn Tae-ho, staff reporter

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