Hyundai Accused of Faking US Sales Data for Its Electric Vehicles
“We’re kinda up against the wall and we gotta hit a number for the press and for the Koreans.”
The hits keep coming for electric vehicles (EVs) in terms of both their technical realities and their popularity.
In June, I reported that a new study found that 46% of EV owners in the U.S. said they were “very” likely to switch back to owning a gas-powered vehicle in their next purchase.
Now, a group of Hyundai dealers has sued the South Korean automobile firm in Chicago federal court for allegedly inflating EV sales numbers while punishing franchises that would not participate in the scam.
The lawsuit, oiled on Friday by Napleton Aurora Imports in Illinois and affiliated franchises, said Hyundai Motor America Corp (HMA) pressured dealers to misuse inventory codes meant for “loaner” vehicles to exaggerate their sales figures.
Dealers that agreed to improperly code the vehicles were rewarded by Hyundai with wholesale and retail price discounts and other incentives, according to the lawsuit.
Hyundai said in a statement on Monday that it does not condone falsifying sales data and had opened an investigation after it was alerted to the allegations.
The company also said it has been pursuing litigation in South Florida to terminate two Napleton-affiliated franchises there tied to a criminal sexual battery allegation.
An attorney for the Napleton plaintiffs declined to comment on Monday.The complaint in Chicago accused Hyundai of fraud and violating the Robinson-Patman Act, a federal antitrust law that bars sellers from discriminating on the basis of price.
The lawsuit alleges that Hyundai’s focus on sales volume growth for EVs has misrepresented the demand in the actual market. If true, it shows that growth in the EV market is artificial and driven by internal sales manipulation rather than genuine consumer interest.
The dealers said they have been denied benefits from Hyundai. They have asked the court to award an unspecified amount of damages to cover lost sales, revenue, and profit
A similar lawsuit against Chrysler in 2019 was settled by Napleton, under confidential terms, that accused Chrysler of similar sales inflation tactics.
The case, titled Napleton Aurora Imports Inc et al v. Hyundai Motor America Corp, is currently pending in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
It appears the case records include a phone call that would be quite damaging to Hyundai’s case.
The lawsuit says that in a phone call — a record of which is included in the complaint — a Hyundai sales manager encouraged a dealership employee to participate in the scheme, offering extra inventory of faster-selling gasoline and hybrid models in return. Per the suit, the sales manager apologized for the “slimy” request but stated that “desperate times call for desperate measures.”
“We’re kinda up against the wall and we gotta hit a number for the press and for the Koreans,” the transcript quotes the manager as saying. “So if you can help out in any way, I can help you by giving you those pipeline cars.”
There are demands that journalists investigate the EV-fakery.
In todays @qz newsfeed, one article says low cost vehicle #EV sales for @Hyundai are beating @Tesla’s more expensive offering and the next article says Hyundai being sued in #Chicago for inflating/falsifying its EV sales numbers. It’s fair to say we need journalists to dig… pic.twitter.com/c5yfHIBsGe
— garethseltzer (@garethseltzer) July 10, 2024
However, those “journalists” are too pushing climate change hysteria and the utopia of “green energy” to question any aspect of EV technology or its market.
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Buy an EV? Not me!
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If the White House can pull off the biggest fake in history pretending a mentally deficient man is president of the US (officially documented as “an elderly man with a poor memory” why can’t car companies fake sales data?
At present EV are a boutique market that seems comprised of the true believing eco/climate crusaders and virtue signalling bougies with a slim number of urban and/or 2nd vehicle consumers for whom mileage/range issues are not a primary concern. The amount of additional electricity generation capacity needed to fully implement a 100% EV requirement is ….huge. Then there’s the competition for additional electricity from AI scale up. Either these eco loons fully embrace nuclear power or they will continue to be viewed by a growing number as fringe weirdos with unworkable/unacceptable delusions.
2045 headline:
2020 election was stolen but for the good of the country
I am not a huge fan of Hyundai or Ev’s, but those two things together…
Well, this kind of sums it up:
A Canadian driver from Vancouver who owned a 2022 [Hyundai] EV model was told that a replacement battery would cost more than the vehicle itself due to some suspected damage.
https://dailyhive.com/canada/canadian-driver-ev-replacement-battery
Transportation so good we have to lie about it.
Economy built back so good we have lie about it.
Pharmaceuticals so good we have to lie about it.
Potus mental accuity so good we have to lie about it.
I’m sensing a pattern here…
I had always kind of wondered. One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that Hyundai Kia does not generally make very good cars. Not only do the engine is in their cars generally wear out prematurely because of piston ring issues,the electronics in their cars are not generally very good. Buying a car that’s All Electronics from a car company that doesn’t do extremely well with electronics in the first place really never made much sense to me.
That being said, I don’t honestly know very much about electric vehicles, I have no interest in buying one. They wouldn’t fit my life and I’m certainly not going to pay more for a car that’s less functional.
IIRC, Hyndai Kia were the first automaker to offer the free roadside assistance plan, “as a selling point.” But think about it, what could be worse advertising than having a slew of your vehicles seen broken down along the roadways. How often does one see an older Toyota broken down alongside the road way? Hyundai Kia were doing this only to hide the fact that things weren’t going well on the reliability front. They wanted that broken down car out of sight ASAP. Now combine that with the fact that current Kias can be stolen in a second by a simple, easily available, code programming key device. Every Kia in my neighborhood now routinely sports a steering wheel lock or a tire clamp to make sure it is there in the morning. 50% of the broken glass on a street was likely sourced from a Kia.
BTW, my retarded socialist neighbor owns an EV Kia. That alone. 😉
I have a Kia Sorento at the moment. The performance is amazing; I love blowing away muscle cars at traffic lights.
But!
I am convinced the user interface on the radio and other controls was designed by Germans. FAR more complex than it needs to be, confusing, and just plain annoying.
Combine that with a seat that LITERALLY
…gives me a pain in the (posterior) on anything more than a 25 to 50 mile drive, and it means “trade-in!”.
Hey, Hyndai could have done worse, they could have had it designed by Lucas, Prince of Darkness (and, yes, I’ve owned 3 Triumphs)!
Biden green new deal is trillion dollar fraud.
If the government really really wanted us to buy EV’s they would have — through the smart meter technology — given us a discounted electric rate for recharging. Had that rate been the equivalent of anything less than $2.00 a gallon, EV’s would be flying off showroom floors all over the country.
But, no. Best they can do is about ten grand off a $90k price tag. So if government is making no effort to make EV’s more in demand while at the same time trying to outlaw the internal combustion engine, what does that say about the middle class’s prospects to engage in the freedom to travel? Exactly.
Why should the government be having anything to do with this? Let the electric cars stand on their own merits in the free market.
Same with the original Toyota Prius hybrids. Had it not been for the tax credits and the “use the carpool lane driving alone” stickers in some locales, the Prius would have been a curiosity bought by very few.
Full disclosure: I have owned several hybrid cars and like the way they drive, and the fuel economy boost was nice. But, now that I am retired and not driving that much I could have a 1963 Buick Electra and it’d not affect my budget all that much.
Government should not subsidize that or anything.
Unlike most EVs, the IONIQ 5 has been very favorably recieved by car enthusiasts and the publications that serve that community. I’ve never driven one. But, professional automotive journos who have seem impressed. The problem it has, like all EVs, is the advertised range simply isn’t accurate. Real world testing by independent media outlets have generally only seen 75% of the claimed range and in winter driving, it’s been appreciably worse. Most say you can’t drive it for more than 3-hours without needing a charge. For 90% of drivers who only have one car, 3-hours between charges is wholly impractical particularly considering how hard it is to charge an EV anywhere other than your garage.
If Hyundai, with its industry-leading warranty programs, can’t sell EVs no one can…because no one other than early-adopting techno geeks want them.
Personally, I’m never going to even consider buying a vehicle that calls itself “high ‘n dry”.
EV are simply not practical, and I very much doubt they ever will be. The true believers will respond “but tEchNoLOGy!!1!”…. but I just don’t see how “technology” is going to overcome the laws of chemistry and physics.
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