SEOUL, KOREA - Domestic carmakers sold 1.37 million cars in the domestic market last year, down 2 percent from a year ago, in contrast to the 20-percent growth in sales of import cars. The competition between domestically made cars and import cars to get the upper hand in the Korean car market with an annual size of 1.5 million units is expected to become fiercer this year.

 

The Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association predicted that this year’s car sales are expected to mark a slight increase up to 1.58 million units.

Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors achieved a 6-percent year-on-year growth last year in the global market by selling 7.55 million units. In the domestic market, however, they suffered a negative growth of 4.4 percent from a year ago.

They set this year’s domestic sales target at 1.16 million, up 5.7 percent from a year ago. Hyundai Motor, which suffered a 4-percent drop in domestic sales last year, aims to sell 682,000 units this year at home.