Carmakers in Korea log 10.8% sales rise in March

Sales of five automakers in South Korea rose 10.8 percent in March from a year earlier on strong demands for new vehicles in both domestic and overseas markets, the companies said Friday.

The combined sales of the automakers came to 649,994 units, compared with 586,561 units sold in March 2010. Domestic sales rose 8.1 percent on-year to 133,273 units in March with overseas sales also soaring 11.5 percent to 515,721 units, they said.

Industry leader Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. enjoyed strong gains in the local market with their combined domestic sales coming to 108,113 units, or 81.1 percent of all new passenger vehicles sold here last month.

The companies' joint market share was at 78.9 percent a year ago.

Hyundai's global sales rose 1.7 percent from a year earlier to 324,959 vehicles, compared with 319,553 units sold in March 2010. Its domestic sales rose 4.6 percent on-year to 62,013 units with overseas sales also rising 1 percent to 262,946 units.

Kia Motors, the second-largest automaker in the country, also enjoyed a steady growth of sales in both domestic and overseas markets with its sales here soaring 23.1 percent from a year earlier to 46,100 units and overseas sales rising 32.2 percent on-year to 135,096 units.

Smaller automakers still made important strides as they, too, posted significant growth in both domestic sales and exports.

GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of U.S. automaker General Motors Co., said its sales in March rose 7.8 percent from a year ago on brisk sales of its newly launched Chevrolet vehicles in the domestic market.

The company sold 67,552 vehicles last month, compared with 62,641 units sold during the same period last year. Domestic sales shot up 30 percent to 12,265 units with exports rising 3.9 percent on-year to 55,287 units.

"Our great sales performance in March sends a very positive signal that Chevrolet will be a strong, successful brand in Korea," said Arora Ankush, GM Korea vice president of vehicle sales, marketing and service.

GM Korea, formerly GM Daewoo Auto & Technology, replaced all its vehicles with Chevrolet brand, introducing three Chevrolet vehicles -- the Orlando, the Aveo and the Camaro -- in February.

The company is set to unveil another Chevrolet model, the Captiva, early next week, and four others throughout the year.

"We expect domestic demand to maintain its rapid pace of growth through competitive models, which are already on the market and models such as our new Captiva sport utility vehicle (SUV) and Cruze hatchback, which we will soon be rolling out," Ankush said.

Ssangyong Motor Co., the country's smallest automaker, also saw a large sales increase, buoyed by its recently launched SUV, the Korando C.

The company sold 10,390 vehicles last month, up 82 percent from 5,724 vehicles sold a year earlier.

Domestic sales soared 83 percent on-year to 4,677 units with exports also jumping 80 percent to 5,713 units, putting the company's monthly sales at over 10,000 units for the first time since December 2007, according to Ssangyong.

Such a large increase in sales also came amid a takeover of Ssangyong last month by India's top utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., whose vice chairman Anand Mahindra has said the two companies will combine their global sales networks to seek new opportunities, starting with India where two Ssangyong vehicles, including the new Korando C, will be introduced as early as next year.

"The company will work to continue its sales growth as its sales reached over 10,000 units following the launch of the Korando C in the domestic market last month," Ssangyong Motor president Lee Yoo-il said.

Renault Samsung Motors Co., the South Korean unit of French automaker Renault SA, was the only manufacturer in the country to see a drop in sales in the local market last month, despite a large boost in its overseas shipments of vehicles.

The company sold 22,456 vehicles, down 12 percent from the same period last year.

Exports rose 23.3 percent on-year to 14,238 units, but the increase was not big enough to offset a 41.2 percent plunge in domestic sales from 13,980 units to 8,218 units.

The company said its domestic sales shrank partly because of a shortage of vehicles caused by a recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan that nearly halted the operation of its major Japanese suppliers.

Renault Samsung is said to import up to 18 percent of all its auto parts from Japan under Renault's strategic alliance with Japan's Nissan Motor Co.

The company said earlier this week that it was cutting its vehicle output by about 20 percent this month due to an undersupply of parts caused by the Japanese quake.

Jean-Marie Hurtiger, president of Renault Samsung, said Thursday the company's production will likely return to normal from the beginning of next month. (Yonhap)