South Korea’s automotive giant Hyundai slightly missed its 2021 sales target as the global chip crisis drove down vehicle shipments.
The company sold 3.89 million vehicles globally, a little short of its target of 4 million vehicles, Hyundai Motor Group said on Monday.
The South Korean automaker set its 2022 sales target at 4.32 million vehicles.
“In 2022, Hyundai Motor plans to expand its market share and strengthen profitability through efforts to stabilize chip supply and demand, adjust vehicle production schedules, strengthen electric vehicle lineups as well as optimize sales profit and loss by region,” Hyundai Motor said in a statement.
In October, Hyundai Motor cut its 2021 global sales target by about 4% to 4 million vehicles from 4.16 million vehicles amid a global chip shortage.
Together with its affiliate Kia Corp., Hyundai is among the world’s top 10 automakers by sales and had reported a net profit of 1.3 trillion won ($1.10 billion) for the July-September quarter.
During the same period last year, it posted a loss of 336 billion won when it was hit by a one-time expense related to engine quality issues and recalls.
The profit was just shy of an average analyst forecast of 1.4 trillion won compiled by Refinitiv SmartEstimate.
“Hyundai Motor expects that on-year sales growth might slow down for the rest of 2021 amid adverse business conditions caused by the unstable supply of semiconductor chips,” Hyundai Motor earlier said in a statement.
The automaker said the global chip shortage would last until the end of this year or into next year and it expected it would take a long time to get back to normal.
The global chip crisis, triggered partly by surging demand for laptops and consumer electronics during the pandemic, has shuttered auto production lines globally and forced automakers to slash shipment forecasts.
The European auto industry in 2021 was also having a more challenging time than the COVID-19-ravaged 2020, with sales falling 20.5% year-over-year to 713,346 units, the worst drop since 1993, Europe the auto manufacturers association (ACEA) said in December.