S.Korea's carmakers boost sales in April by 77%

South Korea's five carmakers sold a combined 630,691 vehicles in April, up 77 percent from the 356,604 units it sold last year driven by robust overseas demand for SUVs

Domestic sales by Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp., and SsangYong Motor Co. dropped 6.6 percent to 135,601 units last month from 495,090 the previous year.

But overseas sales more than doubled to 495,090 from 211,463 during the same period, the data showed.

Hyundai's sales more than doubled to 345,777 units from 167,693 last year, while Kia's soared 78 percent to 249,734 from 140,262 in the said period.

Hyundai partly attributed the increase from a low base effect, in which it suffered disrupted production at its plants due to the pandemic in April last year. But Hyundai was also helped by strong overseas demand for its Tucson, Palisade, and Santa Fe SUVs and Kia's Sorento and Sportage SUVs.

Hyundai also enjoyed brisk sales of the GV70 and GV80 SUVs under its independent Genesis brand.

This year, Hyundai and Kia will continue focusing on promoting their new models, including Hyundai's all-electric IONIQ 5 and Kia's K8 sedan and all-electric EV6.

The two carmakers aim to sell 7.08 million vehicles this year, 1.7 percent less than the 7.2 million units they sold in 2020.

Meanwhile, the three other carmakers suffered declines in their April sales.

GM Korea's sales plunged 25 percent to 21,455 units last month from 28,749 in the previous year, while SsangYong's plummeted 36 percent to 4,351 from 6,813 last year.

Renault Samsung Motors Corp. posted a 29 percent on-year decrease in sales at 9,344 autos last month from 13,087 last year.