Hyundai Overtakes Toyota in Europe as Top Asian Automaker

Thanks to a slight bump in sales and continued struggles by Toyota, Hyundai is now the number one Asian automaker in Europe by volume. So far this year Hyundai (including Kia) has seen a four percent rise in units moved, while Toyota (including luxury brand Lexus) has seen its sales drop drastically by 17 percent. This puts Hyundai's total volume at 521,369 units for the first 10 months of the year compared to 511,754 for Toyota.

Hyundai has rolled out a long list of new models over the past several years while Toyota's products are aging quickly. Combine this with the low cost of the Korean Won that allows Hyundai to pack more into their cars and still earn big profits and the automaker is able to bring to market some compelling products.

In the U.S., Hyundai still has a long way to go, although it's quickly catching Toyota as it rolls out new products like the important mid-size Sonata. Sales of the Sonata have jumped 64 percent so far this year, bringing the car from a distant 6th place overall in the mid-size segment, into third, behind the Accord and segment-leading Camry. The sales success of vehicles like this have led to an overall sales increase of 21 percent so far this year.

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