55% of India car market is with suzuki ( check maruti swift ), I think suzuki is second in Japanese market. They are very good in small car making. In north America i think GM tied their hands ( no swift etc but still i see people driving the old geo metro now too ) . Hundai comes with new modes in India and raise the bar every time ( i10, i20 ,i30 by end in 2009 - very nice cars)

The problem with north america is domestic companies don't have incremental updating models and do new things only if the competitor is doing , else try to suck last money they can get from a model them spend a lot money for a model from ground up.By that time all the fans of a particular model may have gone (so resale value) and get away from company itself and try and incremental improvement company ( mostly Japanese and Korean ).

Domestic has to accept the change - no other way to go.

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I use to remember in the 80s people would laugh at the Hyundai Excel and Scoupe
Look who's laughing now...

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Or maybe Hyundai and Kia have been selling more rental cars to boost their numbers.

Oh wait, they had a press release admitting that...

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I'm still laughing.

Quality not quantity.....just look at who is at the top now...GM Toyota VW and hyundai....looks like the finish results to an automobile Special Olympics.

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Look beyond your front door. These numbers are all about sales in Asia and developing markets. Ford has done a horrible job in places like India when compared to Hyundai. This is also where Suzuki is making all their money. People look at Suzuki in North America and see a dead automaker but when you look at their sales in developing markets and overall sales as a company the picture totally changes. Ford is just about done their first job of getting competitive vehicles out for developed markets with high margins. The next task is to get serious about getting more of a presence in emerging markets.

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Ford is #2 in Europe. And last couple of months they manage to raise their market share.
So much for... whatever.

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You have your facts wrong.

1) That list is broken down by manufacturer, not holding company or umbrella ownership.
2) The Renault-Nissan distinction is that Renault and Nissan own parts of each other but they are not owned together by a separate entity. That's not the situation at all with Hyundai/Kia.
3) Kia is owned ~39% by the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, not by Hyundai Motor Company. Hyundai Motor Company itself doesn't own any part of Kia, and from what I can tell Kia doesn't own any part of Hyundai Motor Company.

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"Kia is owned ~39% by the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, not by Hyundai Motor Company."

It's true. They are same group. but not directly controlled by Hyundai.
Kia motor America is not directly controlled by Hyundai motor america.
They share R&D part only.

But, i'm not say they are completely independence working.
Chairman of Kia is a Hyundai chairman's son.

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@BigWill:

No holding companies/umbrella brands, huh? General Motors? When did you ever see a GM car?

And while Nissan owns 15% of Renault, it's all non-voting stock, and under Japanese law, the 40-something% that Renault owns of Nissan Motors is enough for ownership. I'll say it again: ownership. Technically, both Renault and Nissan share management in the alliance (through Renault-Nissan B.V., of which they both own 50%), but in practise, Renault S.A. is top-dog. Paris decides, the rest (Dacia, RSM, Nissan, Infiniti) obeys. (My family and I work for Renault, so, I should know.)

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"General Motors? When did you ever see a GM car?"

I see them all the time. In fact, GM has made a point of sticking the famous GM "Chicklet" on all of the new models I've seen:

http://www.solsticeforum.com/forum/attachments/f11/12345d1198990857-solstice-badges-chicklet3.jpg

"Technically, both Renault and Nissan share management in the alliance (through Renault-Nissan B.V., of which they both own 50%),"

This is basic reading comprehension - do you not understand the difference between two companies owning parts of each other (Renault and Nissan) versus two companies being owned by a separate entity (Hyundai Motors and Kia Motors owned by Hyundai Kia Automotive Group)?

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It's like this: First, this is Automotive News' rankings, so perhaps you should let them know your displeasure.

Secondly, on Renault's Annual Report, Nissan is listed under "Investments in Associates". On Hyundai's, Kia is listed as a "Consolidated Subsidiary". Also, on Nissan's own website, they point out that they are two seperate companies, with independent boards. HKAG is a chaebol. There's all kinds of cross ownership now. Kia owns part of Hyundai Powertech. Hyundai Motors USA owns part of Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia and so on and so on, including many companies that Hyundai controls that also own part of Kia.

From the start, it's been clear Hyundai was taking over Kia. Remember, they initially owned 51% from the bankruptcy auction. They've always called themselves a group. They don't just share some R&D here and there; both their names are on all of the centers and test tracks, though they do have seperate design centers. And they even share office space. Their headquarters are next door to each other.

From the start, Nissan and Renault have sold the Alliance as just that: two seperate companies working together. The only time they use the word "group" is in all lower-case then they're trying to claim fourth place. Yes, they share some R&D, but not on the level HKAG does.

So it's Friends with Benefits bought a condo together and are sharing expenses to keep them low and to keep it rented for Nissan and Renault vs. a shot-gun wedding for HKAG. The former may well be more pleasant to get into and even more productive at times, but you're not going to get an anniversary announcement in the newspaper for it. And they can't have it both ways. They're either two distinct companies helping each other out like they claim or one controls the other.

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yeah,. i have been looking the whole day, but i can't find it.
while google has several XXX..... results.

i would like to see the bashing on this issue

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