SEOUL: Domestic sales among South Korea’s five main automakers increased by 14.6% to 120,400 units in August, from weak year-earlier sales of 105,085 units, according to data released individually by the vehicle manufacturers and compiled by just-auto.
The data does not include sales by South Korea’s low-volume commercial vehicle manufacturers, including Tata-Daewoo and Daewoo Bus Corporation, which, combined, typically account for less than 2%.
Domestic sales in August 2014 were affected by strike action at some of the country’s main auto plants, which held back deliveries as the order backlog expanded. This year, local demand in the country has remained robust, nevertheless, following successive cuts in the Bank of Korea’s benchmark interest rate in the first half of the year to a historic, low 1.5%. Cumulative domestic sales in the first eight months of the year increased by 5.1% to 988,445 units, from 940,722 units a year earlier.
Global sales among the country’s ‘big five’ automakers fell by 2.5% to 622,542 units, from 638,430 units a year earlier, reflecting weak overseas demand – mainly in China and eastern Europe – and stronger competition due to the strong won. Cumulative global sales in the first eight months of 2015 fell by close to 2% to 5,712,527 units, from 5,827,702 units previously.
