Hyundai Genesis Succeeds in Home Market
April 01, 2008
The 2009 Hyundai Genesis premium sedan, going on sale this summer in the U.S., already looks to
be a winner in its home market of South Korea.
Hyundai reported Tuesday its March sales in Korea rose 12 percent, thanks to the Genesis it launched in January to challenge Mercedes-Benz and BMW in the luxury-car market there.
The Genesis will be Hyundai's flagship, its first rear-wheel-drive car sold in the U.S. and its first car to offer a V8 engine.
All Korean Automakers Rise
The success of Hyundai’s Genesis — combined with the weak Korean won — helped boost sales of all Korean automakers by a combined 7 percent over the previous March, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday. South Korean automakers sold 495,379 vehicles in March compared with 462,796 a year earlier. South Korea's auto exports rose 28.5 percent in the first 20 days of March from a year earlier, the economics ministry said. Vehicles account for about 10 percent of the country's exports.
Korean automakers are getting a boost from the weaker won, which lost 5.2 percent against the U.S. dollar in March, its biggest monthly decline in seven years, Bloomberg noted. That makes Korean-built cars cheaper overseas and boosts automakers' repatriated earnings from exports.
For the quarter, combined sales of the five automakers rose 9.6 percent from a year earlier to 1.36 million, according to Bloomberg calculations. Domestic sales grew 3.9 percent to 299,675; exports increased 11 percent to 1.06 million.
Company by Company
Hyundai, Korea’s largest automaker — sold 258,395 vehicles; domestic sales climbed 8.5 percent to 58,651, the highest in three months; overseas sales rose 14 percent to 199,744 vehicles; exports from Hyundai's domestic plants rose 2.9 percent; sales from factories in China, India, Turkey and the U.S. jumped 27 percent to a record 99,870. Hyundai earned 58 percent of revenue from overseas last year.
Kia, Korea’s second-largest automaker and 39 percent owned by Hyundai — sales fell 3.5 percent to 121,166 due to fewer exported Morning minicars and Cerato compacts; domestic sales jumped 23 percent to 28,316 units, helped by a revamped Morning and tax breaks on minicars with small engines; exports dropped 9.5 percent to 92,850. Kia introduces three new or revamped models later this year.
GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co., General Motors’ South Korean unit — sales rose 8.9 percent; domestic sales dropped 19 percent; exports rose 14 percent.
Ssangyong Motor Co., a unit of China’s SAIC — sales declined 13 percent to 10,135, despite last month’s addition of 1,020 units of sales of the Chairman W, the most expensive sedan built in South Korea.
Renault Samsung Motors Co. — sales climbed 18 percent to 18,418; domestic sales exports soared by 67 percent, thanks to models such as the Koleos SUV going to France. The company's local sales fell 5.3 percent to 10,046.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:43 AM under Business , Companies , GM | Comments (2) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
"its first rear-wheel-drive car sold in the U.S. and its first car to offer a V8 engine."
not quite. it's the first Hyundai car to offer a Hyundai-developed V8. However, the Korean-market Hyundai Equus, sold until 2007 (and also marketed in parts of the Middle East as the Centennial), had an optional Mitsubishi 8A8 V8 engine. (the Chinese-market Equus did not have a V8 option, for 2007 at least.)
the 4.6L Tau engine option for the Genesis is the first V8 available in a Hyundai car in the U.S.
Posted by: e | April 01, 2008 at 11:07 PM
Hyundai: why was this car not available here in the USA five years ago? Don't you want to usurp Chrysler entirely? This is bad timing like the G8, which arrived at B-P-GMC dealerships two weeks ago, rather than five years ago. As for the car itself, we shall see if it is even worth buying. A lot of Hyundai sedans are smaller than they should be from an interior standpoint.
Posted by: Isaac | April 02, 2008 at 9:51 AM