[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Motor sold more cars in Germany in August than the combined sales of five German carmakers in South Korea, data showed Sept. 11.
South Korea‘s largest automaker Hyundai sold 9,240 cars in Germany last month while the combined sales of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche came to 8,735 in South Korea last month, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association and the German Association of the Automotive Industry.
Hyundai’s outperformance came as South Korea revoked the sales licenses of 80 vehicle models sold by Audi Volkswagen Korea, the local importer of the German cars, for fabricating their emissions and fuel efficiency test results.
In August, Audi sold 476 cars in South Korea, down 83 percent from 2,796 in August 2015. Volkswagen suffered a 97.6 percent on-year plunge with only 76 cars sold in South Korea last month, the data showed.
The sharp drop in sales of Audi and Volkswagen cars lowered the combined market share of German vehicles to 54.8 percent in August from 74.6 percent a year earlier, according to the data.
(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)