Hyundai’s July sales rise 4 pct despite chip shortage

Hyundai Motor sold a total of 325,999 vehicles in July, up from 313,460 units a year earlier on strong demand for its SUV models, the company said in a statement.

Domestic sales fell 5.9 percent to 56,305 units from 59,856 during the period, while overseas sales climbed 6.3 percent to 269,694 from 253,604, the statement said.

To prop up sales in the second half, Hyundai said it plans to launch the IONIQ 6 all-electric model and other competitive models in global markets.

The IONIQ 6 is the second model embedded with Hyundai Motor Group’s own EV-only electric-global modular platform (E-GMP) following the IONIQ 5 launched in April last year.

Hyundai plans to introduce the platform-based IONIQ 7 SUV model in 2024. For its all-electric models, Hyundai uses alphanumeric names like its bigger rivals, such as BMW, whose models are named Series No. 1-8.

From January to July, sales dropped 6 percent to 2,205,040 autos from 2,344,645 units during the same period of last year.

Hyundai has set a sales goal of 4.32 million units for this year, higher than the 3.89 million sold last year.