Hyundai tries to put brakes on tumbling China sales
Hyundai Motor, the fourth largest vehicle sales company in the world, has posted its lowest monthly sales in China in four years.Hyundai produced and sold 54,160 vehicles from its plants in China last month, down 32 percent from the same period a year ago. That’s the lowest monthly sales since July 2011, when the company sold 52,016 vehicles made in China, the company’s biggest market by volume and the largest auto market in the world.
Weak demand in China contributed to Hyundai posting its sixth consecutive decline in quarterly profit in the three months ending in June, when plant sales in China slumped 14 percent. To help revive sales, the company said it will reduce prices of its sport utility vehicles, boost incentive spending and review the mix of models it offers in China.
Carmakers are struggling to adjust to what BMW has called a “normalization” of a market that has grown eight-fold since 2000, pushing it past the U.S. as the world’s biggest car market in 2009. Ford Motor Company now sees a potential annual decline in industry-wide sales in China for the first time in 17 years, while Volkswagen deliveries in the country dropped for the first time in a decade in the first half.
Hyundai said on Wednesday it was offering discounts of as much as 30,000 yuan ($4,800) for its Santa Fe SUV and 20,000 yuan for the ix35, known as the Tucson in the U.S. and Korea. Bloomberg
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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