Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors paid less incentives to their dealers in the United States in a move interpreted as an effort to improve their profitability, a report showed Wednesday.

According to a report by TRUECar.com, an auto-focused website in the U.S., Hyundai Motor paid an average of $1,945 to dealers in incentives per car sold in February this year, reflecting a 9.9 percent decline from a year earlier. Kia Motors’ incentive payments dropped 4 percent to $2,815.


Dealers are given incentives by automakers to encourage their sales, and it is customary for incentives to be concentrated on aging models to reduce inventories.

TRUECar.com said Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors were among the few automakers that paid less incentives for cars they sold in the U.S. last year. Earlier this year, they admitted that increased spending on incentives dented their profitability.

General Motors doled out the largest number of incentives to its dealers, followed by Volkswagen.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)