Having delivered in excess of 900,000 passenger vehicles in the USA, plus almost 600,000 in South Korea and more than half a million in Europe (EU+EFTA+UK: 535,205), it was a great 2025 for the Hyundai brand.
Worldwide, sales totaled 4.14 million units, down 0.1 percent from the previous year and the goal for 2026 has been set at 4.16 million. Only China continues to disappoint though both Hyundai Motor Group and Hyundai Motor Company are far from being alone in their struggles there.
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New strategies with long-time partner Beijing Auto have been tried and with a 21 per cent year-on-year gain in December to 13,007 wholesale deliveries, things are tentatively looking up for HMC in the PRC. Full year deliveries of locally made Hyundais numbered 125,726 units, an 18.5 per cent drop. A certain new sedan should mean January was as strong as December.
China
Is the brand finally on the rebound in China? It might be. The Elantra, specially modified for the local market, is performing relatively well. And yet with just 63,446 sales in 2025 it is also the sole Hyundai inside China’s top 100. Position 94 is hardly noteworthy either. Still, an improvement is an improvement, and the most recent month was a strong one. Let’s see how this car does in Q1 and beyond.
The Custo, an older model, had a good year too but again, this was relative, its sales surging…to not quite 17,000 units. The joint venture also axed certain China-specific older vehicles such as the Mistra and SQ series Lafesta.
Newer models, such as the EO, might fare better. During its first month of sale (December), the E-GMP platform 4.6 m long SUV found 558 buyers, a good start. And, exports have just commenced, Australia being the first destination. There, it will be called Elexio with pricing way higher than it is in the PRC.
Deciphering Hyundai EV codenames
The EO/Elexio EV does not exist in South Korea, being exclusive to Beijing-Hyundai. The same JV will add a second electric model in September. All we know is that it will be a sedan.
A further four EVs are said to be in development. As for clues to codenames, the Elexio serves as a guide. It is OE1c, with O being the size segment, E meaning electric (Ioniq models also have this second character), 1 for first generation and a lower case c denoting China.
JV with General Motors
In two years’ time we’ll see the first of four models co-developed by HMC and GM. Each will be mainly for South America and Central America, in a not dissimilar way to how Renault and Geely are collaborating in the same region. The Hyundai and Chevy vehicles will be a Ford Ranger-sized pick-up plus three closely-related smaller models: another pick-up, a car and an SUV. There will be ICE and hybrid powertrains.
Global small & medium-sized Hyundai cars
Starting with a brief look at the tiniest IC-powered passenger vehicles (see EVs below for the Casper/Inster and others), the AC3 series i10 is now more than six years old. As such, a successor is due to be launched in the second half of 2026.
Moving up a size to the i20, a new generation model should debut in 2027 and there will likely be a 1.6-litre hybrid powertrain for the N. The main production plant will be at Izmit in Turkey/Türkiye.
The case of the C segment i30 is an intriguing one. Hyundai is said to be keeping the current shape car in production for an extended period, having realised that IC hatchbacks are far from fading away. The PD series shape is now more than ten years old yet it will have a third facelift later this year. The axe finally falls on it in 2029. Europe remains the main regional market.
Medium-to-large sedans and hatchbacks
Beijing-Hyundai’s best performer won’t be replaced there for a while yet but the Elantra, or rather Avante, to use the South Korean market name, goes to a new generation later in 2026. Sources believe it will have retro looks and be launched in October. The USA should also be a major market and it would be new there for the 2028 model year during CY2027. Korea will be the other main country for this car.
The Sonata remains a popular model in South Korea and is in fact overdue for replacement. Generation eight (DN8) will be seven years old in March so DN9 is overdue. There is however certain speculation that Hyundai will facelift DN8 for a second time, delaying the successor until 2029.
Bigger still is the Grandeur. In its present form, GN7, there are hybrid as well as four- and six-cylinder petrol engines. And while the looks have been acclaimed, sales have not exactly been brisk. There is therefore a chance that the current generation might be the last. If that is so, production would end in 2028 or 2029.
ICE SUVs
QU2i, the second generation Venue, debuted at the end of October last year 2025 and will be in production until 2032. Built at the former GM India Talegaon plant, this small SUV is taller and wider than its predecessor.
Available in many regions, the Venue is however not for Europe. There, a new Bayon will replace the existing model in 2027, this being the brand’s entrant in the region’s B-SUV class. Hyundai Motor Türkiye will manufacture the new Bayon at its Izmit factory.
Expected to be positioned above the Alcazar and below the Tucson, a special SUV for India (code: Ni1i) is now in the final stages of development. Due out within the next 12 months, this additional vehicle will not only be for the local market but exported too. HMIL will manufacture it in the former General Motors Talagaon plant outside Pune. We can expect a hybrid powertrain to be either standard or optional.
From teeny, to top-end
At the other end of Hyundai’s big range of SUVs sits the Palisade. The profit margin on the LX3 series model must be very nice, this big, front- and all-wheel drive vehicle being a suitably large success in the USA.
This was the first vehicle for HMG’s 2.5-litre turbo hybrid powertrain while a 1.6 T hybrid is coming for other Group models. Launched one year ago, there should be a facelift for the Palisade in 2028 and a successor towards the end of 2031. A high-roof variant is due later this year for the home market.
EVs
The Inster is doing fairly well in Europe but its Casper Electric equivalent has not met much success in South Korea, something it has in common with other EVs. Nonetheless, the tiny tall hatchback will have a second generation, this being pencilled in for 2028. That would be the same year as a new Casper. This, the petrol-powered equivalent, dates to 2021 whereas the EV didn’t arrive until 2024.
One year before the Korean market is first to see the next electric Casper, Hyundai Motor India will launch a small, locally made EV. There are only a few details at the moment but more information concerning the HE1i project will likely leak out later in 2026.
An E-GMP architecture B segment electric hatchback is said to be due for release in Europe, the main target region, this August. Project BJ1 will likely be called Ioniq 2 and twinned with the future Kia EV2.
Another Ioniq model soon to debut
Yet another small EV is coming soon, this being the Ioniq 3, as heralded by the THREE concept (see image). A production model, which will be fairly toned down compared to the design study, is due to be revealed later in 2026. It will be around the same size as the Volkswagen ID.3 and aimed primarily at the German and British markets as well as countries in Scandinavia.
Outside Europe, Hyundai’s EVs haven’t really lit up the sales charts of any market. This is hardly the fault of what have all been highly acclaimed vehicles; more that few in Korea or America have much interest in electric hatchbacks or sedans. Still, the Ioniq 5 is now only two and a bit years away from being replaced.
If looks were the only reason why people bought cars, the Ioniq 6 would be a major success. Alas it is far from that, a mere 5,081 units of the swoopy electric sedan being sold in South Korea last year. Which means even the Nexo (5,678) outsold it. That is a good achievement for Hyundai’s latest fuel cell model (codename: NH2) though, the hydrogen-powered crossover likely to keep doing modestly well at home until it is replaced in 2032.
Hydrogen fuel cell SUV, and Ioniq 6
The previous Nexo (code: FE) did rather better than many people realise, Hyundai claiming a production total of 37,020 examples between 2018 and 2025. And as regards the Ioniq 6, it is unlikely to be replaced. Build, which was originally planned to last until 2028, may end ahead of schedule.
Big expansion of HMGMA
What had been expected to be badged Ioniq 7 instead became the Ioniq 9. This large electric SUV debuted the LA auto show in November 2024. Its life cycle should be seven years so we can expect a facelift in 2029 and a replacement in 2032.
Production of the Ioniq 9 takes place in Georgia is at the Bryan County Metaplant plant near Savannah. This commenced in March 2025, just days before president Donald Trump’s tariffs were enforced (1 April 2025). The factory’s official name is Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America. HMGMA was expanded from an initial 200,000 units per annum to 500,000 almost immediately. This, so as to be able to eventually manufacture Genesis and other HMG electric and electrified models.
