Hyundai and its affiliate Kia sold an impressive number of 146,400 cars in the Chinese market last month, accounting for a combined 9.2 percent of the market. The CEO of Hyundai Motor America, Dave Zuchowski, has plenty of changes and challenges to deal with in order to reach a similar success on the U.S. market.
In April the two automakers sold in China a total of 1.6 million cars. They took up over 9 percent of the Chinese market for the first time this year. Their combined market share continued to grow from 6.1 percent in January to 7.7 percent in February and 8.3 percent in March. The models that dominated Chinese sales are the Hyundai Avante MD and the Kia Sportage.
In the U.S. the company is balancing the launch of the Genesis luxury lineup; a push into green cars with the Ioniq trio and the Tucson hydrogen fuel cell car; a dealer base pushing for more crossovers and higher profits; and capacity constraints for Hyundai's light trucks. Concerning U.S. sales results, the brands' representatives say they are all eternal optimists, and think next month is going to be better than the previous month.
