Hyundai Australia The operations manager says the brand is aiming for a stronger presence at the top of the sales charts due to its “healthy rivalry” with sister brand Kia.
In conversation with Daily Sparkz Speaking at the launch of the new Elexio electric SUV, Hyundai Australia chief operating officer Gavin Donaldson said: “I want to beat everyone.”
“Sales are always important. I think when you look at sales, you’re always in a competition – it doesn’t matter what brand you’re competing against,” Donaldson said.
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“I think there is a healthy rivalry (between Hyundai and Kia). Ultimately I look at Hyundai and Kia and when you put the results together we are a very strong, very strong and really relevant automotive company in Australia.”
“I know the team over there (at Kia) well, I’m always confident that I want to beat everyone. But you know, I don’t let the results at the end of the day get me down… I just see what we can do and make sure we get the best result we can every month,” Mr Donaldson added.
Kia overtook Hyundai in the local sales race in 2023 and has held a lead over its sister brand ever since.
Asked about the brand’s more concrete ambitions to compete for the overall sales podium with the likes of Toyota, Ford and Mazda, Mr Donaldson said he would “never put a cap on (Hyundai’s) ambitions”.
“You have to have the product portfolio to get there. You can always put out the volume you want, but you want to have the product portfolio.
“Toyota will always be very difficult to beat. They are where they are for a reason. We are number five at the moment, but I would like to be fourth? Yes. Would I like to be third? Yes. Would I like to take two? Yes,” Mr Donaldson continued.
“We will always evaluate our performance based on the results we get – I’m not worried about the results list, whether we are (second, third, fourth or fifth).
“But I’m very competitive and I want to make sure we get the best possible result.”
Hyundai registered 77,208 new vehicles in 2025, 7.7 percent more than in 2024, and took fifth place in the overall manufacturer rankings for the calendar year – behind Toyota (239,863), Ford (94,339), Mazda (91,923) and Kia (82,105).
While Hyundai fell short to its Korean sister brand in the overall standings, it scored some wins in the hybrid space, ranking second in total hybrid vehicle sales behind Toyota with 28,851 sales, up 92.8 percent year-on-year.
At the top were the Tucson (10,556) and Kona (10,407) hybrid SUVs, which outperformed the Toyota Camry (9838), Yaris Cross (9409) and Kluger (7817) – all of which recently switched to pure hybrid models.
Much of Kia’s lead over Hyundai is thanks to the Carnival people mover, which outsold the van-based Hyundai Staria by almost 10 to 1 (10,948 to 1,205).
In addition, there is no equivalent at Hyundai for the ever-popular Kia Picanto city sedan: with 7,166 sales per year, that is almost the same as Hyundai’s cheapest car, the Venue SUV (7,927). Kia also recorded 6515 sales in the light SUV segment with its Venue competitor Stonic.
So far, Hyundai is showing promising growth in 2026. The company reported 6.9 percent year-over-year growth to 5,856 units in January, led by strong performances from the Kona and Tucson as well as the new Palisade SUVs. Nevertheless, it was 800 units fewer than Kia, which managed 6,600 units (plus 15.4 percent).
Hyundai has also just stopped production of non-performance versions of the popular i30 hatch, which could lose volume over the next 12 months, with no direct replacement planned yet.
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