Hyundai expands presence in China, Europe

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers’ data showed Wednesday that its flagship Hyundai Motor Co.’s sales for the January-to-August period came in at 371,300, ranking it fourth place in the nation.

The top place was taking by GM, followed by two joint ventures: Volkswagen set up with Chinese partners, Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co. and First Automobile Works (FAW)-Volkswagen Automotive Co.

Hyundai is also fairing well in Europe. Hyundai and its sister carmaker Kia Motors Corp. continued to outpace Toyota Motor Corp. in the market for the sixth consecutive month in August.

According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, Hyundai’s sales for the first eight months of the year increased by 5.3 percent from a year ago to come in at about 234,000 units, while that of Kia increased by 7.4 percent to 169,500 units.
 
In comparison, the combined sales of Toyota’s brands Toyota and Lexus suffered a 15.8 percent drop to come in at about 385,000 units.

The credit appraiser Moody’s Investors Service upgraded its ratings for the two firms on Tuesday.

Following the changes, Hyundai’s rating was upgraded from “Baa3” to “Baa2,” which is the ninth highest in Moody’s 20-grade rating scale. Kia’s rating was raised from Ba1 to Baa3.