Global Sales Drop 4.5% as Hyundai Feels the Pinch From Chip Shortage

Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s largest carmaker, announced Friday that June sales were down 4.5 percent from last year. This was due to a continuing global chip shortage, which continued to impact its vehicle production and sales.

Hyundai Motor sold a total number of 340,534 vehicles last June, a decrease from the 356,631 units it sold one year ago, the company stated in a statement.

According to Yonhap news agency, domestic sales dropped 13 percent to 59510 units from 68.407, while overseas sales decreased 2.5 percent to 281,024, from 288,224.

Sales dropped 7.6% from January to June to 1,877,193 vehicles, compared to 2,031,185 units in the same period last year. Hyundai has set a goal to sell 4.32 million units this year, which is higher than the 3.89million sold last year.

Hyundai announced on Thursday that it will establish a new affiliate in the US to support its $10.5 billion investment in the largest economy in the world.

According to regulatory filings, the new affiliate will be called HMG Global and will be based in Delaware, the US. It will be funded by Hyundai's three flagship arm -- Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Mobis and Hyundai Kia.

Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia will invest a total of $578 million into the new American unit. After regulatory approval, the new US affiliate will be launched in August.

This move was made in response to Hyundai's May announcement that it would spend $5.5 billion in Georgia to build electric vehicles and battery cells.