Hyundai, Kia Report Korean Market Sales Figures

April car sales were something of a mixed bag for the five major automakers in South Korea.

The new models released by Hyundai and Kia allowed them to lead the pack.

Hyundai had global sales totaling 407,666 units in April, with 58,365 in Korea and 349,301 spread across the other global markets.

The numbers are a 9.7% increase over the same period in 2012.

Hyundai’s production has slowed following the union’s refusal to work on weekends, but that hasn’t stopped SUV’s like the Santa Fe and Maxcruze (7-seat Hyundai Santa Fe) seeing a boost in domestic sales to the tune of 5.2%.

Overseas, the automaker saw a 10.5% increase in sales over the previous year, thanks in large part to production increases in its Brazil and China plants.

Kia Sales In Korea

Hyundai affiliate Kia Motors also saw a sales jump, with an 8.7% increase over the previous year, with overseas sales making up the numbers.

Kia saw total units sold jump to 252,689 compared to 232,520 from the same period in 2012.

Their domestic sales took a 1.4% boost upward swing to 50,554 vehicles sold in April.

Overseas, the sales were 212,135, which meant an increase of 10.2%

GM, Ssangyong Motor, Samsung-Renault

GM Korea were not quite so fortunate, seeing their monthly dales drop 4.6% over the same period last year.

GM Korea sold 58,899 vehicles in the month of April, compared to the 61,732 units sold at the same time last year.

Domestic sales took an even bigger hit, dropping 21.8% to 10,260 units for the month. There was a slight increase in overseas sales from 48,619 to 48.639.

GM Korea has already said that is expects numbers to start an upward climb again in May, thanks to positive customer feedback on the Chevrolet lineup, including the G2 Cruze, Aveo, Malibu, Trax, Captiva and Orlando, as well as the Alpheon.

Renault Motors also announced a drop in sales, with their 10,871 units representing a 21.3% year over year decline.

Their domestic and overseas sales took drops of 11.5% and 21.7%, respectively when compared to the same period last year.

That is actually something of an improvement when you consider that the minus growth rate stood at 38% in January.

Ssangyong Motor, the nation’s smallest automaker posted their best numbers since 2006 by selling 5,115 units domestically and another 7,492 overseas.