High exposure

Hyundai pressured its dealers to “artificially inflate” sales figures for its electric cars, the sources said. The number-crunching system rewarded dealers who agreed to play by the manufacturer’s rules and “punished” those who refused, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Chicago by Napleton, Illinois-based Aurora Imports USA.

This led to the following fact: Hyundai has released numerous press releases containing fake figures claiming to show sales growth electric cars year after year.

Dealers who refused to participate in this scam (which has yet to be proven or disproven in court) were allegedly put at a competitive disadvantage, including being forced to promote unpopular cars or being denied wholesale discounts to customers.

The lawsuit alleges that Hyundai falsely portrayed sales growth for its own-brand electric vehicles, misleading the public to believe that the growth was occurring organically due to the appeal of its products and good demand.

This is a false narrative. Instead of organic growth fueled by in-demand cars and consumer demand, [Hyundai] created a multi-level scheme to force its dealers to report fraudulent sales,
– writes the plaintiff.

In June, Hyundai said it sold 4,669 electric vehicles in the U.S., up about 9 percent from the same month last year. The company also said EV sales are up 33 percent this year.

The alleged scheme involved a “covert scheme” in which dealers were asked to falsely report unsold cars as “sold” or leased to a customer, only to reverse the “sale” the following month. The plaintiffs allege that they believe this illegal scheme is being used by Hyundai throughout the United States.

There is evidence

The lawsuit includes transcripts of phone calls in which Hyundai sales executives encouraged a dealership employee to participate in the scheme. The sales manager said he was “backed up against a wall” because he had to “give the number to the press and the Koreans.” The employee also said he felt “disgusted” at being forced to be part of the scam.