Korea aims to produce 4.6 million vehicles in 2014
New Hyundai Sonata to compete against imported cars
2014/05/15
- Summary
- Hyundai/Kia Group's market share in Korea fell to 68% in 2013
- German cars dominate Korean import market
- Production capacity of 5.56 million in Korea and 4.39 million overseas
- Hyundai Motor Group aims to sell 7.86 million units globally in 2014
- GM Korea to cope with reduced production of vehicles for Europe
- Renault Samsung aims to increase global unit sales to 200,000 by 2016
- Ssangyong's global sales growing with high demand for Korando family SUVs
- Sales Forecast by LMC Automotive: Korean sales to hover around 1.6 million units in 2015-2017
Summary
Korean vehicle production in 2013 decreased by 0.8% year-over-year (y/y) to 4.52 million units (excluding the imported cars). Sales in Korea fell 1.9% to 1.38 million units in the face of surging imports. Meanwhile, exports from Korea also dropped 2.6% to 3.09 million units partly because of the appreciation of the Korean Won for these two years. According to the outlook announced by Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) in February 2014, production in Korea for 2014 will rise to 4.6 million units, a 1.7% increase y/y. Sales in Korea are expected to edge up by 1.2% y/y to 1.40 million units, while exports from Korea will grow by 3.6% y/y to 3.2 million units.
Hyundai Motor Group has been losing its market share in Korea to growing imported cars. The group reported sluggish sales in the developed markets including Europe and the U.S. while it experienced growth in production and sales in China and other emerging markets. In order to enhance business in China, Hyundai Motor Company plans to build a new plant in Chongqing.
According to LMC Automotive's forecast in March 2014, Korean light vehicle production will rise to 4.56 million units in 2014, but will fall to around 4.45 million units in 2015-2016. Hyundai's launch of the redesigned Sonata is expected to boost production in 2014, while GM's plan to end sales of Chevrolet vehicles in Europe should reduce output in Korea in 2015-2016. LMC Automotive anticipates that production will rebound to 4.54 million units in 2017.
Related Reports:
Features on new Hyundai/Kia models: Genesis adopts multiple active safety systems (Mar. 2014)
Hyundai-Kia in China: 2.4 million in vehicle sales targeted for 2016 (Dec. 2013)
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