I’m a fan of Hyundai EVs and I’ve been impressed by the brand’s growing sales. But has Hyundai been lying about its electric vehicle sales growth all along? A new lawsuit suggests Hyundai has been faking its sales figures to access rewards. 

Allegedly Hyundai EV sales totals have been fudged for benefits 

Are Hyundai EV sales as good as it claims? Maybe, but allegedly, the sales figures are a lie. On July 5, six Hyundai dealers filed a lawsuit alleging that Hyundai pushed dealerships to fake sales totals for electric vehicles like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6. 

Reportedly, Hyundai pushed dealers to incorrectly report unsold vehicles as sold to a real customer or placed into longer service and then reverse the sale about a month later. 

Napleton Aurora Imports Inc. and other Hyundai businesses filed the lawsuit and claimed that one request for a dealership to falsify numbers was caught on tape with a sales manager saying that a certain sales figure needed to be hit to impress media outlets and the Koreans. 

In exchange for faking the sales numbers, Hyundai would allegedly reward dealerships with unlawful price discounts and allocations of more popular vehicles like the Hyundai Palisade. Discount coupons and other benefits may have also been provided. 

Dealers that didn’t participate in the alleged scheme didn’t receive these benefits. They may have been punished with allocations of slower-selling vehicles and denied the use of wholesale and retail price discounts. 

Hyundai EV sales have been cited in multiple press releases for impressive year-over-year and monthly growth. 

A Hyundai spokesperson shared that it’s aware of the lawsuit. Also, Hyundai does not condone any international falsification of sales reporting data and launched an immediate investigation. 

Hyundai intends to take any and all corrective and remedial actions required based on the investigation. The Napleton organization was asked to pause the filing of the lawsuit until the internal investigation was complete. 

But as you can see, the Napleton organization didn’t wait and has previously harmed Hyundai’s reputation. 

Stay tuned because this battle seems to be heating up. I believe that Hyundai EV sales are truthful after reviewing multiple models that are very impressive, but we will see.