South Korea’s car markers saw sales slump in July with even overseas markets, which had so far this year offset a sluggish domestic performance, also weakening.
Renault Samsung was the only winner, jumping Ssangyong to regain fourth place in domestic sales.
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Hyundai sold 59,955 units last month in South Korea and 272,027 overseas, up 3.1% over last year but the company’s lowest monthly figure in 2012. It blamed weak domestic consumption, reduced working days, partial strikes and the summer vacation season.
Workers at Hyundai staged their first strike in four years as annual wage talks stalled because of disagreements over scrapping overnight shifts and other matters.
Workers at Kia and General Motors also joined the two-day partial walkouts led by the metal workers’ union.
Kia Motors sold 40,300 units in Korea and 168,126 overseas in July, overall a 10.3% decline with its domestic and overseas sales falling 4.3% and 11.6% respectively from the previous month.
GM Korea experienced an 8.8% drop to 60,720 units, 12,001 vehicles in Korea and 48,719 overseas.
Renault Samsung sales totalled 5,006 in July outperforming Ssangyong’s 4,164 units.
In the first half of this year, South Korea’s domestic car sales fell 4.2% to 757,353 vehicles from a year earlier.
