Hyundai Motor managed to boost sales in emerging markets last year despite the global slowdown.
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Company officials said sales, including CKD kits for local assembly, in Russian, Latin American and Middle Eastern markets rose over 10% year on year, the Korea Herald reported.
The largest increase was in Russia, where sales rose 29.5% to 191,463.
The company attributed the rise to the injection of oil money into the market, and its strengthening of marketing activities and the dealership network within Russia.
“Although the annual sales increased by a large margin, sales in Russia did slow down towards the end of the year, and projections for this year are not good,” a Hyundai Motor official was quoted as saying.
“But the company is planning to strengthen marketing activities and to push sales mainly with smaller vehicles.”
Middle East sales rose 14.8% to 60,599 units.
As with Russia, the company plans to strengthen its small car range in the region this year and will be launching the Indian-built i20 in the Middle East this year.
Among emerging markets, the company recorded the smallest sales increase in Africa where sales increased 8% from 2007 to about 154,000 units while sales in Latin America increased 10%.
