Sold 130,881 Units, Up 5.5%…Strong Performance Amid Trump’s Tariff Remarks
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Bo-kyung – Hyundai and Kia recorded a year-on-year increase in sales for the fifth consecutive month in the U.S. market last month, despite mentions of car tariffs by President Donald Trump.
On the 4th, the Hyundai Motor Group announced that Hyundai (including Genesis) and Kia’s U.S. sales in February amounted to 130,881 units, up 5.5% from the same month last year.
By company, Hyundai sold 67,578 units, a 4.1% increase, and Kia sold 63,303 units, a 7.2% increase, in the U.S. market.
Both the combined totals of Hyundai and Kia and each company’s individual sales marked the highest February sales on record. This continued a trend of year-on-year sales increases for five consecutive months.
Genesis also sold 5,546 units, jumping 20.4%, marking the highest February sales ever recorded.
There are assessments that Hyundai and Kia performed well despite President Donald Trump’s ongoing mentions of tariffs on imported cars.
The combined sales of eco-friendly vehicles by Hyundai and Kia totaled 25,688 units, a 27.8% increase from the same period last year. The share of eco-friendly car sales rose by 4 percentage points to 20.2%.
In particular, hybrid vehicle sales surged 52.0% to 18,726 units.
Hyundai and Kia’s electric vehicle sales in the U.S. declined by 10.4% to 6,962 units.
Hyundai’s top three selling models in the U.S. were the Tucson (16,137 units), Elantra (10,163 units), and Santa Fe (9,562 units).
Kia’s best sellers were the Sportage (13,072 units), K4 (11,669 units), and Telluride (9,599 units).
Hyundai and Kia outperformed other car manufacturers whose U.S. results have been disclosed so far, including Toyota (-4.9%), Ford (-8.8%), Honda (-2.8%), Subaru (4.1%), and Mazda (2.5%).