By Park Jin-hai
Global auto giants including Hyundai Motor have reported a sales slump ― linked to the global economy downturn ― for the first six months of the year.
However, local analysts say Hyundai Motor has performed comparatively well, although the weak euro and yen has reduced its price competitiveness.
“Given the strong won and high demand for pickup trucks, the market was not favorable to Hyundai,” said KB Investment & Securities analyst Shin Chung-kwan.
“Yet, the first-half performance has been regarded as fairly good.” Toyota Motor, which was No. 1 in global sales last year, slipped to second place, selling 5.02 million cars, down 1.5 percent, in the first half.
Volkswagen moved into top place, even though its sales fell 0.5 percent to 5.04 million cars.
Third-place General Motors sold 4.86 million cars, down 1.2 percent, while Renault Nissan (4.24 million vehicle sales) fell 0.7 percent.
Hyundai Motor Group sold 3.95 million cars, down 2.4 percent.
“With the combination of a global economic slump and an adverse exchange rate, we thought Hyundai’s global sales would nosedive, but it wasn’t that bad,” said an industry insider.
“With Japanese and European carmakers all struggling in the first half, the global automotive market in general is definitely in bad shape.”
Global car sales growth in almost all markets, except in the U.S. and Europe, has slowed or contracted, resulting in a global increase of just 1.3 percent, or 42.78 million cars.
The Chinese market, which has posted double digit growth in recent years, has slowed to 5.4 percent sales growth, while Brazil, Russia, Japan and ASEAN markets have contracted.
In the U.S., demand for cars, in which Hyundai has a competitive edge, went down, while the pickup truck segment, where Hyundai has no vehicles, enjoyed brisk sales.
The exchange rate has also worked against Hyundai. The average won-yen rate has slipped 10.7 percent to 914.1 won from 1,023.9 won in the first half of this year. The average won-euro rate also lost almost 15 percent to 1,226 won from 1,439 won.
Hyundai and Kia sold 680,000 cars in the U.S. in the first half, up 3.1 percent from a year earlier.
Shin said Hyundai’s sales performance would improve in the latter half of the year.
“When the carmaker launches new Tucson, K5, Sportage and Elantra models in the second half, its sales will grow stronger,” he said.
“And with the company’s new Mexican plant starting operations in the first half of next year, sales will pick up further.”