Hyundai Kia China sales rise to record high in Jan

Hyundai Kia Automotive Group announced yesterday that its China sales in January rose to a record high.
 
The company said that January sales of Hyundai Motor Co.'s Chinese subsidiaries, Beijing Hyundai Motor Co. rose 35 percent from a year before to come in at 42,790 units, while that of Kia Motors' Corp.'s Chinese unit Dongfeng Yueda Kia Motor Co. increased 15 percent over the same period to be recorded at 17,607 units.

The group said that considering that a 13 percent decrease was expected for China's car market last month, the sales rise of Hyundai and Kia's Chinese units were equivalent to growths of 48 percent and 28 percent.

Both companies' January sales are the highest monthly sales on record, the company said.

The company attributed the rise to the lowered tax on vehicles with smaller than 1.6-liter engine displacements and to the companies quickly responding to the changes in the market.

According to the company, the Chinese government lowered the 10 percent tax placed on automobiles with engine displacements smaller than 1.6 liters to 5 percent from last month.

Beijing Hyundai's bestsellers in January were the Chinese version of the compact sedan Avante, of which 17,889 units were sold last month. Dongfeng Yueda Kia's bestseller was the compact car Cerato, which has been discontinued in Korea.

For the year, the company said that it aims to increase Beijing Hyundai's sales by 22 percent and Dongfeng Yueda Kia's sales by 30 percent to increase its share of the Chinese market to 10 percent.