July 03, 2012 14:05
Renault Samsung had the worst sales of Korea's five carmakers last month, selling a mere 4,008 units, according to the data it released Monday. This is the first time it has slipped even behind troubled SUV-maker Ssangyong.
Renault Samsung saw a steep 58-percent plunge on-year, mainly due to the poor sales of its latest model, the SM7. Sales of its mid-size SM3 sedan have also declined as Kia announced the launch of rival K3 in September. In 2009 and 2010, Renault Samsung overtook GM Korea (then GM Daewoo) to rank third.
Meanwhile, Hyundai reported a 0.1 percent on-year increase in sales last month with 59,711 units while Kia’s and GM Korea’s domestic sales fell 0.2 percent and 1.6 percent. By model, the Hyundai Santa Fe, which went on sales in May, ranked top with 10,243 units sold, followed by the Avante (9,822), Morning (8,774), Sonata (7,505) and K5 (6,869).
For the entire first half of this year, Hyundai's combined domestic and overseas sales grew 11.6 percent on-year to 2.18 million vehicles. Whereas domestic sales fell 4.7 percent (328,113), sales in foreign markets surged 15.1 percent (1.85 million).
Kia saw its sales rise by 12.4 percent with around 1.39 million vehicles sold. Sales of GM Korea fell 1.1 percent to 409,150 units.
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