Chip shortage leads to revenue drop for Hyundai Motor

SEOUL, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor said the global automotive chip shortage had caused its monthly sales to drop at a double-digit rate in November.

The Seoul-based company sold 312,602 cars last month, down 17.1 percent from a year ago, it said Wednesday. In the global market, its sales plunged 18.4 percent year-on-year.

In the United States, revenues for Hyundai Motor also fell slightly. There, its November sales slumped 12 percent.

However, Hyundai saw the sales of its premium brand Genesis rocket more than five times in the United States.

Hyundai attributed its disappointing performance to the shortage of automotive chips and the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are facing many uncertainties due to the hardship in securing automotive chips and COVID-19. We will try to minimize this impact by adjusting the production schedule," a Hyundai spokesman told UPI News Korea.

Observers say that Hyundai will struggle for the time being.

"Hyundai cannot solve the lack of automotive chips because it's a global issue, which affects other major players like General Motors and Stellantis, with the sole exception of Tesla," Daelim University automotive Professor Kim Pil-soo said in a telephone interview.

"Hyundai is unfortunate because its models have recently gained popularity in international markets, including the U.S. and Europe," he said.

Tesla's third-quarter car sales jumped 73 percent from a year before as an increasing number of motorists purchased Model 3 and Model Y.

The semiconductor chip shortage is expected to cost the global automotive industry $210 billion in revenue this year.

A previous version of this article contained incorrect information about Hyundai Genesis sales in the United States.