S. Korea's automakers post 14.4 pct sales gain in May

SEOUL, June 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's five automakers, led by Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp., said Wednesday their global sales gathered further ground in May thanks mainly to rapid gains in overseas markets.
The combined sales of the five automakers, also including GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of the world's largest automaker General Motors, came to 638,110 units last month, up 14.4 percent from the 557,755 vehicles sold a year earlier.
The May growth rate was up from a 10.7 percent on-year increase recorded in the previous month.
Their sales in overseas markets jumped 17.3 percent to 518,418 units last month while domestic shipments rose 3.4 percent on-year to 119,692 units. South Korea's other automakers are Renault Samsung Motors Co., the local unit of French automaker Renault SA, and Ssangyong Motor Co.
Kia Motors saw the largest improvement in its sales with its global sales rising 21.7 percent from a year earlier to 197,359 units.
Kia's domestic sales dropped 5 percent on-year to 38,012 units, but its overseas sales spiked 30.5 percent to 159,347 units to keep its overall sales growing, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Hyundai regained its strong grip on its long-held position as the industry leader with its domestic sales gaining 17.3 percent to 57,750 units and surpassing the company's affiliate and largest competitor, Kia, by the largest margin in months.
Hyundai's overall sales came to 339,205 units, up 13.6 percent from the same period last year, as its overseas sales also soared 12.8 percent on-year to 281,455 units, according to the company.
GM Korea continued to enjoy the strong sales momentum that followed its launch of the Chevrolet brand here earlier in the year.
The company sold 71,497 vehicles last month, up 6 percent from a year before. Its domestic sales soared 21.1 percent from the same period last year to 12,403 units, with exports rising 3.4 percent to 59,094 units.
"The strong sales results have again demonstrated the positive market response to our new brand in Korea and our new product lineup," said Ankush Arora, GM Korea vice president of vehicle sales, service and marketing. "We expect sales to remain strong through the end of the year as a result of GM Korea's innovative customer care programs."
Ssangyong, recently emerging from nearly two years of court receivership, continued to see great improvements in both domestic and overseas markets with its overall sales topping 10,000 units for the third consecutive month in May, the company said.
The company sold 10,425 vehicles in May, up 48.3 percent from the same period last year. Domestic sales rose 29.7 percent to 3,515 units, with exports jumping 60 percent on-year to 6,910 units, renewing the company's record volume of 6,363 units sold, which was set only a month earlier. The company has kept track of the record since late 2007.
Renault Samsung, apparently lacking new vehicle models to face intensifying competition here, saw its overall sales plunge 12.6 percent despite a large increase in exports as its share of the domestic market continued to erode.
The company sold 19,624 vehicles last month, compared with 22,454 units sold in the same period last year. Exports rose 29.7 percent to 11,612 units, but domestic sales dropped 40.7 percent to 8,012 units.
Renault Samsung is set to launch renewed versions of its crossover utility vehicle QM5 and its flagship luxury sedan SM7 in the second half of the year.
bdk@yna.co.kr