Sales of Hyundai, Kia cars in BRICs soar 22.9% in 1st half

Hyundai Motor Group said Sunday that sales of its Hyundai and Kia brand cars in the BRICs market soared more than 20 percent in the first six months of this year from the same period last year.

According to Hyundai Motor Group and Shinhan Investment Corp., the top two carmakers in South Korea sold a combined 1,283,404 vehicles (897,089 for Hyundai and 386,315 for Kia) in Brazil, Russia, India and China in the January-June period, up 22.9 percent from the corresponding period a year earlier.

The 22.9 percent growth was the highest in the BRICs market, compared with 13.1 percent for Volkswagen, the market leader, and 7.5 percent for GM, the second placer.

Hyundai-Kia overtook Renault-Nissan as the third ranker. The latter placed fourth with minus 9.1 percent growth.

In terms of global sales, Hyundai and Kia sold a combined 3,683,000 units (2,299,000 for Hyundai and 1,384,000 for Kia) in the first half of 2013, which accounted for 34.8 percent of the total car sales worldwide.

By Keat Min Woo

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com