Buying from Home
The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy announced on Nov. 8 that a total of 164,507 cars were sold in Korea last month, showing an increase of 18.6 percent from a year ago. The year-on-year growth rate was the highest of this year. It had reached 13.2 percent in August and 16.3 percent in September.
Hyundai Motor Company’s domestic sales volume rose by 16.7 percent year-on-year, led by the Avante and the Sonata. The sales volumes of the best and second-best sellers added up to 12,838 and 10,487, respectively. Its SUVs such as Santa Fe and Tucson posted a sales volume growth of no less than 47.3 percent. Kia Motors’ Sportage, K5, Carnival and Sorento boosted the company’s sales volume by 25.9 percent, too.
Ssangyong Motors increased its monthly sales volume by 83.5 percent to 10,008, breaking the 10,000 mark for the first time in 12 years. The percentages were 8.6 percent for GM Korea and -4.7 percent for Renault Samsung Motors.
The sales volume of imported cars totaled 21,229, up 18.3 percent from a year earlier and down 12.7 percent from a month ago. Their market ratio was 12.9 percent, and the market share of Volkswagen dropped 67.4 percent month-on-month to 947 in the wake of the emissions scandal.
Korean automakers’ exports rose 7.5 percent year on year to 259,306. The percentages had been -0.7 percent and 3.5 percent in August and September, respectively. The auto parts exports, in the meantime, declined by 7.5 percent to US$2.27 billion due to the factors including recessions in emerging markets.