Seoul: South Korea's No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. managed to weather a global industry slump in the third quarter to hold on to their 5th place around the globe, industry data showed Monday.
According to the data, Hyundai and Kia, the flagships of Hyundai Motor Group, sold a combined 1.87 million cars in the July-September period, down 0.7% from a year ago.
The figure accounted for 8.8% of the global automotive sales of 21.35 million estimated by global research firm LMC Automotive.
Their third-quarter market share represents a slight decrease from the 9% share a year earlier.
Hyundai Motor took up 5.3% with 1.18 million cars sold in the three-month period, while Kia sold 688,000 units to take up 3.2% of the global auto market.
Their presence in the global automotive market has been waning this year, hitting 8.2% in the first quarter.
In the first nine months, the duo sold a combined 5.65 million vehicles around the globe to clinch a 8.6% share.
Industry sources said the two automakers' global market share may reach 8.8% this year, unchanged from last year's, on the back of diversified lineups and strong demand for SUVs.
Their global market share reached 8% in 2010 and 8.6% in 2012.
Hyundai Motor Co. reported a 25.3% drop in the third quarter from a year earlier largely due to increased costs and a drop in sales in China and other emerging markets.
The automaker reported a net profit of 1.21 trillion won (US$1.06 billion) for the July-September period, and operating income also declined 8.8% on-year to 1.5 trillion won over the cited period, while sales rose 2.7% to 23.43 trillion won.
The third-quarter operating income marks the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2010, when the comparable figure was 1.24 trillion won.
QNA
