Kia tries to hold onto its market share

자료사진

Kia Motors, Korea’s second largest carmaker, said yesterday that it aims to sell some 480,000 vehicles in the domestic market this year to maintain its share amid a slump in the local economy.

Kia said it will put its all-out efforts to achieve the sales target and attain a market share of over 32 percent by strengthening aggressive sales marketing and promotions.

It will introduce revamped models of the Carens compact multipurpose vehicle and the Soul box car within the year to drive up its sales, the company added.

The carmaker sold 482,000 units in Korea in 2012, down 2.2 percent from a year earlier, with a 31.3 percent share. Meanwhile, the country’s domestic car market shrank 4.2 percent on-year last year with 1.4 million cars sold.

In order to counter slumping domestic sales, Kia has frozen prices of the newest models of its luxury sedans such as the K9, and lowered prices of some popular cars, including the K5 midsize sedan. Yonhap