Hyundai Motor gears up for comeback this year

In a bid to reverse its falling domestic market share, Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun of the Hyundai Motor, the nation's leading carmaker, emphasized customer loyalty and quality service at a sales promotion event held over the weekend.

Though its total sales during the first half of this year increased slightly by 1.9 percent to 321,000 vehicles from a year earlier, its domestic market share fell from 51 percent to 45 percent during the same period.

Industry experts say the declining market share is largely due to the lack of new models being released in a rapidly changing consumer market.

Hyundai's latest car, the YF Sonata, was introduced last September.

Hyundai has also been affected by the surging popularity of K5 and K7 sedans and sports utility vehicle Sorento R produced by its affiliate Kia Motors.

As of last month, Kia Motors' domestic market share was 36.8 percent, just behind Hyundai Motor's 40.3 percent.

"The sales outlook for the second half of the year doesn't seem to be that rosy as consumer spending is expected to drop due to the rise in the key interest rate," Chung said, also noting an increase in the number of imported cars.

The automaker hopes the release of its new Avante early next month will help regain its share.

"[In the second half of the year,] the company should think about wise measures to keep and captivate its existing customers," Chung said at an event held in a hotel in Gyeongju attended by some 580 executives and employees, including the automaker's president Yang Seung-seok and branch managers.

They discussed the company's business plans for the rest of this year and efforts to increase sales.

Chung told executives that the company should work "to improve high quality customer service," "strengthen sales capability and productivity" and "develop sales strategies based on creative ideas."