Domestic Automobile Market

Kia Motors and GM Korea, which had shown sluggish performance since the beginning of this year, succeeded in increasing their domestic sales in July. Keen attention is being paid to whether or not the upturn will last.

Last month, Kia and GM’s local yearly sales increased by 3.0% and 10.9%, respectively, to 40,300 and 13,304 units each. This marks the highest sales so far this year. The month-on-month rate of increase added up to 10.1% for Kia and 30.9% for GM. During the first half of this year, Kia’s sales continued to drop, with the maximum month-on-month decline reaching 10% or so, except in April, when it recorded 1.4% growth. The figure had dropped by over 20% for GM Korea.

Kia’s sales recovery was led by the recently face-lifted New K5 and the New K7. The sales of the models increased 11.6% and 90.1%, respectively, when compared to July 2012. The Carnival posted a 44.6% growth in sales over the same period, too.

The sales volume of GM Korea’s Spark went up by 50.9% month on month and 6.5% year on year, respectively. That of the Aveo, the Captiva, and the Orlando increased 37.1%, 255.4%, and 8.8% from a year ago, too.

At the same time, Ssangyong Motors sold a total of 5,768 units of cars in July to post 38.5% growth. Renault Samsung’s monthly turnover totaled 5,089 units, 1.7% up from July 2012 and 15.1% up from the previous month. Hyundai Motor Company became the only Korean automaker that posted negative growth last month; its sales declined by 1.1% year on year to stand at 59,302 units.

The five companies’ gross local sales volume grew 2.9% from a year ago to 124,963 units, and the combined exports and overseas sales added up to 518,789 units with a rate of increase of 3.7%. The grand total increased by 3.5% to 643,752 units. 

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