Hyundai becomes world’s 5th largest automaker

Hyundai passes big names to become world’s 5th largest automaker

In less than ten years the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group has climbed the ladder from the world’s eleventh largest automaker to its recently announced fifth position.
With global sales of 3,961,629 units in 2007 this places it ahead of Honda and some of the other car giants such as Nissan, Chrysler and Fiat.

“Given the economic climate at the moment and the continually rising price of crude oil we think this is a great achievement” says Philip Eustace, Executive Director Hyundai Motors New Zealand.
“Hyundai have made giant strides with the quality of the vehicles produced and are now ranking very highly in JD Power surveys and many other consumer surveys.”

He went on to say, “with a consistent spend on R & D of over US$3 billion per annum we are seeing a range of technically advanced vehicles reaching our consumers. With many exciting and environmentally friendly technologies in the pipeline Hyundai will easily consolidate its position in the top five manufacturers in the coming years”

Hyundai has several manufacturing plants around the world and will soon be opening a plant in Europe which will have a capacity of 300,000 units per annum. This divestment of production facilities also gives the Hyundai Group immediate access to the emerging markets of China and India and improves their position to supply the mature markets of Europe and North America.

To add to this announcement both here at home and globally Hyundai had more good news. Hyundai Motor Company posted an 11.4% rise in its global monthly sales for June with a record 253,846 units sold – its best ever result.

Meanwhile Hyundai Motors New Zealand had 374 passenger car sales in June which gave them a market share of 5.54%. Added to this is 25 van sales taking their total to 399, a 4.1% market share overall. This brings their total sales year to date to 2568, up 22.3% from June last year.

ENDS

2007 Global Sales Rankings
1. Toyota Motor Corp. 9,366,000
2. General Motors 8,902,252
3. Volkswagen AG 6,191,618,
4. Ford Motor Co. 5,964,000
5. Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group 3,961,629
6. Honda Motor Co. Ltd. 3,831,000
7. Nissan Motor Co. 3,675,574
8. PSA/Peugeot-Citroen SA 3,428,400
9. Chrysler LLC 2,676,268
10. Fiat S.p.A. 2,620,864

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