Hyundai Reaches 5,000,000 Milestone in the U.S.

On Thursday, Hyundai Motor Co. announced that it has cumulatively sold over 5 million vehicles in the U.S. since its entry to the American market in 1986. Hyundai is currently selling more vehicles than it has ever sold before. In 2006, Hyundai sold 450,000 units in the U.S., accounting for a 3.4% market share, with sales targets for 2007 set at 550,000 vehicles. The Sonata sedan and the Santa Fe SUV are Hyundai's two best-performing models. Despite struggling with a reputation of bad quality in the 1990s, Hyundai has, largely thanks to quality-improvement programs implemented by Chairman Chung Mong-koo, been able to rid itself from that image and gradually increase sales. In 2006 Hyundai placed #1 in a customer satisfaction survey of non-luxury brands, even surpassing Toyota, famed for its quality-management.