Hyundai sees 21 percent drop in sales globally amid coronavirus pandemic

Hyundai Motor has reported a fall of 21% in March sales on Wednesday. The South Korean carmaker sold only 308,503 vehicles globally till production was suspended at various plants because of coronavirus pandemic.

Sales in Hyundai’s home market increased 3 percent year-over-year (y/y) to 72,180 units. Hyundai Grandeur (sold as Azera in some markets) led the sales followed by Hyundai Sonata in the Korean market.

The all new Genesis G80 launched in Korea on 30th of March recorded order exceeding 20,000 units on the first day of sales alone, signaling a promising prospect for the model.

For markets other than Korea, sales slowed to 236,323 units compared with 320,066 units in 2019, a 26.2 percent drop from a year earlier. With the spread of Covid-19, all major markets around the world showed weak demand. Coupled with temporary production disruption, overall sales declined.

Hyundai Motor closed its Montgomery, Alabama, assembly plant last month after an employee tested positive for the disease, and also suspended production at plants in the Czech Republic and India over the virus.

Despite the double whammy of an ongoing slowdown and the impact of coronavirus, Hyundai Motor will be spending 20 trillion won ($16 billion) by 2025 on new technology as the industry moves toward electric and autonomous vehicles. The company will set up an innovation centre in Singapore to develop and test technology across the automotive supply chain, including trialing the manufacturing process for electric vehicles.

Singapore, like many other countries, is offering incentives to encourage the adoption of EVs and build more charging stations by 2030.