Hyundai is celebrating 40 years in the Australian market, during which time it has delivered over 2.2 million vehicles.
The now-enormous Korean auto brand rose from modest beginnings here, where Western Australian car dealer John Hughes – together with the late Alan Bond – originally secured the local distribution rights for Hyundai.
The front-wheel drive Excel reached Mr Hughes’ Perth forecourt in August 1986, and only eight examples were sold that month. By the end of 1986, however, a total of 1756 Accents had been sold.
“I’ve enjoyed a wonderful ride with the Hyundai brand, so much so that starting in the late ’90s we were the biggest selling Hyundai dealership in the world for six consecutive years,” said the now 90-year-old Mr Hughes.
“The product has stood the test of time and has now grown to be a household name in Australia.”
The Excel was joined by the mid-size Sonata sedan in 1989 and the small Lantra sedan in 1991, which was eventually renamed Elantra and then i30 Sedan.
The sharply priced Excel not only launched the Hyundai brand here, but it also well and truly put it on the map – in some months of 1998 it even became the best-selling model in the country by outselling the likes of the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore.
Hyundai has continued to grow, reaching 500,000 cumulative sales in 2004 and a million in 2012.
It reached its greatest height in 2015 when it delivered 102,004 vehicles to Australian buyers, making it the fourth-best selling brand on the market and giving it a total share of 8.8 per cent.
In that year, it had the fourth-best selling light car (the Accent), the third-best selling small car (the i30, which in some months was Australia’s best-selling vehicle outright) and the best-selling small SUV (the ix35).
Though its sales are no longer at such lofty heights, it delivered 77,208 vehicles in Australia in 2025, up 7.7 per cent and making it the fifth-best selling brand in a market vastly more fragmented and competitive than a decade ago.
It posted a 6.2 per cent market share in 2025. Of the other brands to finish in the top 10 in 2015, every brand bar Toyota and Ford had less market share 10 years later, reflecting the onslaught of competition.
While stalwarts like the Sonata remain, the Hyundai Australia lineup has changed dramatically over time.
The Genesis luxury sedan launched here in 2014 was a prelude to the establishment of the standalone Genesis premium brand, launched here in 2019.
There’s now a full range of SUVs, ranging from the light Venue to the large Palisade. There’s also a range of hybrid models, which accounted for 28,851 of its sales last year – enough to make the Korean brand the second largest supplier of hybrids to Australian buyers.
Hyundai’s electric vehicle (EV) lineup has grown, with 1882 battery-powered vehicles reaching Australian buyers last year – a disappointing showing, with deliveries down 30 per cent and sister brand Kia well and truly ahead (8131 deliveries, up 125.2 per cent).
Kia overtook Hyundai in overall sales back in 2022, and has maintained its lead since then. It has also entered segments for which Hyundai doesn’t yet have offerings locally, including the ute segment with the Tasman released last year.
Hyundai also has yet to match Kia in terms of warranty coverage.
While Hyundai led the way for an almost market-wide shift to a five-year vehicle warranty, which it introduced in 1999, its sister brand Kia, which was taken over by Hyundai Motor Company around the same time, subsequently introduced a landmark seven-year warranty in 2014.
Hyundai has yet to match this with an unconditional (not dependent on servicing within its own dealer network) seven-year warranty offering.
“When I look back over the past 40 years, I don’t just see vehicles or milestones – I see millions of Australians who gave Hyundai a chance,” said Hyundai Motor Company Australia CEO Don Romano, who took the top job in 2025.