Kia EV6 / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group

By Kim Hyun-bin

Hyundai Motor Group is now the world's third-largest automaker in terms of sales volume.

Hyundai Motor Group said Monday that its global sales volume from January to June of this year stood at 3.3 million vehicles, coming in third behind Volkswagen Group, which sold 4 million vehicles, and Toyota, which ranked first with 5.1 million vehicles sold.

The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance followed behind Hyundai with 3.14 million vehicles and Stellantis with 3.01 million vehicles sold.

Hyundai Motor Group ranked fifth in the first half of last year.

Experts say the production setbacks of global automakers due to the shortage of semiconductors contributed to Hyundai Motor Group's rise in the global market.

Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia Corp. saw a 5.1 percent decrease in sales during the first half of this year compared to a year ago, but the gap was smaller than that of the other automotive groups.

Toyota's sales decreased by 6 percent, Volkswagen by 14 percent, Stellantis by 16 percent, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance by 17.3 percent and GM by 18.6 percent compared to the same period last year.

An increase in sales of Hyundai Motor's luxury Genesis brand and a strategy of entering the eco-friendly car market in its early stage also contributed to the rise of Hyundai Motor Group's global ranking.

Genesis vehicle sales totaled 25,668 units in the U.S., the world's second-largest automobile market, during the first half of 2022, setting a new record for the highest sales in the first half of the year.

According to Bloomberg, Hyundai Motor Group sold 27,000 EVs in the U.S. market between January and May of this year, ranking second after Tesla on the back of the popularity of the Ioniq 5 and EV6.

"It seems that Hyundai Motor Group's unique potential to use the unprecedented crisis in the automobile industry as an opportunity, such as the supply shortage of semiconductors and the transition to electrification, seems to have excelled," an automobile industry official said.