Hyundai, Kia boost global market share

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Hyundai, Kia boost global market share


The combined market share of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, under Hyundai Motor Group, reached 8.8 percent in the first half of the year, according to data from LMC Automotive.

The U.S.-based auto industry research firm reported that global automobile sales from January to June reached 42.05 million units, 3.683 million of them Hyundai and Kia vehicles.

Their market share was up 0.2 percentage point from the same period a year ago.

Hyundai had a 5.5 percent market share with 2.299 million vehicles, while Kia had 3.3 percent with 1.384 million units.

The combined market share of Hyundai and Kia has been increasing steadily in recent years. After reporting a 6.4 percent market share in 2008, it jumped to 7.8 percent in 2009, 8.1 percent in 2010, 8.6 percent in 2011 and 8.8 percent in 2012.

While sales in the United States and Europe suffered a slowdown, Korea’s top two automakers have been selling more and more vehicles in Brazil, Russia, India and China.

According to company data, Hyundai and Kia combined for 1.283 million vehicles sale in the four countries from January to June, up 22.9 percent from a year ago and representing 34.8 percent of the companies’ global sales.

In China, sales grew 32.6 percent year-on-year with rising sales of the Langdong and K3. Brazil sales were up 83.1 percent year-on-year thanks to the opening of Hyundai’s new plant there and the rising popularity of the HB20 compact.

Experts said Hyundai and Kia’s global market share for this year could reach 9 percent if overseas momentum continues in the second half.

Among the five local automakers, however, Hyundai and Kia are the only two that haven’t finalized a wage agreement with their labor unions. Since this week is a vacation period for automakers, the two companies will resume their negotiations next week.

Hyundai’s union has warned management that it may pursue job actions if their proposal is not accepted in next round of bargaining.

Hyundai said last week its sales reached 23.18 trillion won ($20.77 billion) in the second quarter, up 5.7 percent from a year ago, but operating profit plunged 5.2 percent year-on-year to 2.4 trillion won.

Kia Motors announced last week it took in 13.11 trillion won in the second quarter, up 4.5 percent from a year ago, while operating profits were down 8.5 percent year-on-year to 1.12 trillion won.

BY JOO KYUNG-DON [kjoo@joongang.co.kr]
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