[Photo by Hyundai Motor Co.]

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Auto sales of five Korea-based car manufacturers plunged 19.2 percent on-year in June and 21.5 percent in the first six months, boding poor second-quarter results amid still sluggish demand from overseas under the pandemic.

The five automakers – Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Co., and Ssangyong Motor Co. - sold a combined 581,186 vehicles in June, down 19.2 percent from a year ago, according to their respective data on Wednesday. Sales at home jumped 41.2 percent to 176,468 units, but outbound shipments sank 31.9 percent to 404,718 units during the period.

All car makers saw their shipments surge at home but retreat overseas last month.

The country’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor delivered total 291,854 units in June, down 22.7 percent from a year ago. Domestic sales soared 37.2 percent to 83,700 units on government tax breaks, but overseas sales tumbled 34.2 percent to 208,154 units.

Kia Motors, Hyundai Motor’s smaller sibling, also saw its sales down 12.1 percent to 207,406 units last month, driven by a 23.8 percent dip in sales outside Korea. Domestic sales rose 41.5 percent to total 60,005 units.

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GM Korea, the South Korean unit of U.S. automaker General Motors, shipped 25,983 vehicles, losing 25.2 percent on-year as its outbound shipments dropped 32.2 percent to total 16,634 units amid the virus spread in the U.S. Sales at home surged 61.5 percent to 9,349 units thanks to a positive market response to the all-new Chevrolet Trailblazer.

Renault Samsung Motors, the South Korean operation of French carmaker Renault S.A., sold 14,260 units, down 23.7 percent from the previous year. Domestic sales rose a whopping 80.7 percent to 13,668 cars, riding on popularity of its new SUVs - XM3 and QM6 in March, but exports dropped 94.7 percent to 592 vehicles due to the loss of its mainstay Nissan Rogue.

SsangYong Motor reported a comparably modest loss of 1.9 percent last month after delivering 10,181 units. Sales at home gained 18.6 percent to 9,746 units, while shipments to overseas slid 77.6 percent to 435 units.

The poor June sales figures after equally dismal numbers in the previous two months suggest sharp deterioration in their income statement for the second quarter.

For the first six months, sales of the five car makers totaled 3,033,798 units, down 21.5 percent on-year to the lowest since the same period of 2009. Experts now expect Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors this year will unlikely meet the annual milestone of a combined 6 million units after selling 7.2 million cars globally last year.

On Thursday, Hyundai Motor shares closed 0.81 percent higher at 99,000 won, while Kia Motors remained unchanged at 32,200 won in Seoul.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]