By Jhoo Dong-chan
Sales of the nation's two largest carmakers, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, rebounded last month.
Hyundai Motor said Wednesday it sold 400,995 cars at home and abroad in September, up 3.5 percent from a year ago. This was the first time in seven months that Hyundai Motor has seen sales growth.
Domestic sales surged 43.7 percent from 2016 to 59,714 vehicles, while overseas sales declined 1.3 percent to 341,281.
"Hyundai Motor has experienced various unfavorable factors overseas this year," a company official said.
"We suffered a downturn in Korea last year because of the trade union members' walkout and the resultant delay in production. Hyundai's business environment overseas in major and emerging economies isn't likely to improve anytime soon. We will continuously strengthen our competitiveness while responding flexibly to various needs from overseas markets."
Of Hyundai's vehicle lineup, sales of the Grandeur, Avante and Sonata sedan here were 11,283, 7,078 and 6,424, respectively, last month. Sales of the Kona small SUV topped 5,386, making it the nation's best-selling SUV in the period.
Sister brand Kia sold 48,019 cars here and 204,235 cars abroad during the period.
Thanks to the surging popularity of its SUV models, domestic sales were up 25.4 percent last month. Kia also managed to record 3.6 percent growth in overseas sales, although it suffered a grave challenge because of weak sales in China.
Motorists in the world's largest automotive market shunned Hyundai and Kia vehicles after the placement of a U.S. anti-missile battery in Korea.
Although the battery is aimed at tackling rising threats from Pyongyang, Beijing does not accept the explanation. It claims the missile shield's radar is a threat to its security.
Seoul counters that Japanese radar has a much wider surveillance capability of mainland China than the Korean radar. But China does not accept this and has retaliated economically against Korea.
Hyundai and Kia are among the biggest victims of the retaliation.
Kia said the Sorrento SUV and Carnival minivan led the carmaker's domestic sales, reaching 10,016 and 6,011, respectively. This was the first time Sorrento monthly sales have topped 10,000. The Carnival minivan enjoyed 52.1 percent sales growth.
In overseas markets, 37,726 Kia Sportage SUVs were sold, becoming the company's best-selling model last month, followed by the K3 sedan and the Pride compact with 28,793 and 24,760 in sales.
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