Improving overseas shipments boosted five South Korean carmakers’ sales in February, according to industry data.
Compared to February 2010, Hyundai Motor’s sales increased 12.1% to 281,000 units, the Korea Herald said.
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Hyundai’s overseas sales rose 14.8% while domestic sales increased by less than 500 units or 0.9%.
Kia Motors saw the second highest rate of export increase at 31% to about 138,000 units.
Domestic sales grew at a slower rate of 17.5% lowering the overall year-on-year growth rate to 27.8%.
Hyundai and Kia’s expansion in overseas markets was particularly visible in the US.
According to the companies, Hyundai Motor America sold 43,533 vehicles in February, up 28% from a year earlier, while Kia saw an increase of 36.4%.
Among the country’s five carmakers, Ssangyong exports increased at the highest rate of 62.4%, pushing up the SUV specialist’s overseas sales to 4,332 units.
Including domestic sales, which increased 20.6% over the same period, Ssangyong’s February sales rose 44.4%.
February brought mixed results for GM Korea and Renault Samsung.
While GM Korea’s domestic sales declined 6.3%, an increase of 21.1% in exports pushed up the carmaker’s overall February sales by 16.4% from a year earlier.
Renault Samsung, however, saw its overall sales decline by 11.7% despite exports rising by nearly 3,000 units from a year ago, held back by a massive 5,000 unit cut in domestic sales.
