’US auto share understated’
By Kim Yoo-chul
The growing popularity of Korean vehicles among American motorists has emerged as a verbal rallying point for U.S. President Barack Obama as he works to get the American public behind the country’s yet-to-be-ratified free trade pact with Korea.
However, the Hyundai-Kia Automotives Group, Korea’s largest carmaker which enjoys a rapidly-growing market share in the U.S., appears to be apprehensive about being a frequent topic in political talk.
``We've got folks in America driving Kias and Hyundais. I want to see folks in Korea driving Fords and Chryslers and Chevys,’’ Obama said last week in an event in Iowa.
It wouldn’t have been his intention to produce a news release from Hyundai-Kia, which expressed concerns that the comments may stoke American complaints about a supposed trade imbalance in automobiles between the two countries.
Government officials and auto industry people in the U.S. are basing their judgment on data from the Korea Automobile Importers’ and Distributors’ Association (KAIDA), which shows the share of Korean cars in America to be 9 percent and the share of American cars in Korea to be 0.5 percent during the first six months of the year.
Hyundai-Kia, however, claims that the KAIDA statistics are flawed as it doesn’t include the cars produced and sold by GM’s Korean unit here. When including the sales of GM Korea, the share of American cars in Korea becomes 9.2 percent.
``The U.S. market share data has been based on brand. So when the market share of Hyundai-Kia is calculated, our cars produced from our U.S. manufacturing bases are counted in as well,’’ a Hyundai-Kia official said.
``The (KAIDA) data is based on where the products were manufactured and counts only the cars that were produced in the U.S. and imported here in calculating the market share. This falls to put in account the cars sold by GM Korea under the Chevrolet brand, including Cruze, Orlando, Spark and Alpheon," he added.
``There is a need to produce statistics based on international standards in automotive sales to reduce unnecessary misunderstanding of Korea’s trade policies," according to the official.
Vehicles of U.S. brands that include GM Korea were sold 72,983 units during the Jan.-June period, while European brands that include Renault-Samsung were sold 91,725 units, Hyundai-Kia said.