By Park Jin-hai
Hyundai Motor and its sibling Kia Motors topped October sales in Germany, overtaking other global auto brands.
According to data by the German Association of the Automotive Industry, the two Korean carmakers sold a combined 14,131 cars in October, the largest monthly sales among foreign brands there, followed by Skoda with 13,808 cars and Renault with 9,665.
Hyundai Motor saw its sales inch up 0.4 percent year-on-year to 9,084, while Kia Motors' sales expanded 4.2 percent over the same period to 5,047.
The growth comes despite a 5.2 percent decline in sales of imported cars in Germany.
“It is meaningful that we could achieve the top place in sales at the country home to world renowned automakers. It shows that our vehicles’ quality and performance have been recognized in Germany,” said a Hyundai official.
Industry watchers say that if Hyundai’s new premium Genesis cars hit the market, Hyundai and Kia will gain significant market share in Germany. Hyundai plans to complete the full Genesis lineup with a total of six models by 2020, competing against Mercedes and Audi cars at home and abroad.
In the United States, Hyundai’s premium luxury sedan Equus and Kia’s K9 sedans sold an accumulated 2,044 in August, ranking second only to the Mercedes S-Class in the luxury car sales, surpassing such global automakers as BMW and Lexus.
Equus will soon be consolidated into Genesis, which will make its U.S. launch early next year.
“Already in Germany, Hyundai is known as a carmaker that sells quality vehicles at reasonable prices. When the Genesis brand is launched in Germany, Hyundai could have a tight race against other global makers,” said an industry watcher.
In the meantime, German carmaker Volkswagen saw its sales shrink 0.7 percent year-on-year in October, suggesting that the ongoing emissions scandal is affecting its business at home as well as abroad.
The drop stood in contrast to a 4.7 percent rise in combined sales of all German brands.
Japanese cars, competing against Hyundai in the German market, have shown poor sales as well, with Nissan selling 5,726 cars and Toyota 5,499 cars during the month.