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Hyundai Motor posted a 3.4-percent year-on-year jump in worldwide sales in September 2012 to 371,743 vehicles. Hyundai’s rebound was attributed to the termination of the strike actions at its South Korean factories as well as to the boosts to U.S. and China output. Hyundai’s sales figures in September, which were at their highest since June, could provide some reassurance that the South Korean carmaker has placed its costliest strike ever behind it. Despite that, analysts are concerned about the impact of the strikes on the carmaker’s third-quarter earnings, the results of which will be released late this month. According to Suh Sung-moon, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities, Hyundai’s results for September fell short of expectations as domestic sales remained sluggish despite the end of strikes and the start of discount programs.
The strikes at the carmaker have partly caused sales to fall 4.6 percent year-on-year in August, marking Hyundai’s first monthly sales decline in over three years. Hyundai’s South Korean plants account for producing around half of the carmaker vehicles sold globally. The strikes at the plant prevented the carmaker from building 82,088 cars worth around $1.5 billion.
Although Hyundai did not provide a regional breakdown of its sales, analysts believe the carmaker logged solid sales in China at a time when its Japanese rivals are besieged by problems related to territorial dispute between two of the largest economies in Asia. Japanese carmaker Mazda Motor Corp. reported Thursday that its sales in China dropped 35-percent year-on-year in September 2012. While some Japanese carmakers are slashing their production in China, Hyundai increased its output capacity in the country in June 2012.
source:4wheelsnews
