The U.S. market share of cars made
by Hyundai Motor Co. (KSE:005380) and its affiliate Kia Motors
Corp. (KSE:000270) fell to 8.3 percent in September, due
mainly to aggressive marketing efforts by rival carmakers,
industry sources said Wednesday.
The two South Korean carmakers sold a combined 87,660
vehicles last month that caused their market share to fall from
9 percent levels maintained for the past few months, according
to the sources.
Hyundai and Kia are the flagship companies of Hyundai Motor
Group, the world's fifth-largest automaker.
"An 8 percent-level market share is the lowest tallied
since March, and a noticeable dip from the record 10.1 percent
reached in May," a market watcher said.
He said the main reason for the drop can be found in
extensive incentives provided by U.S. carmakers last month to
attract customers.
Carmakers such as Chrysler and General Motors have cut
prices of older models and started selling vehicles under
attractive interest-free installment programs. Hyundai and Kia
which are currently selling newer models, have not taken
similar action.
Reflecting this, sales of Chrysler cars shot up 27 percent
on-year last month, while the gain for GM reached 19.7 percent.
Related to the drop in market share, a Hyundai Motor Group
spokesperson said despite the drop reported for September,
Hyundai and Kia have both done well compared to 2010.
"In many cases, production is unable to meet demand, which
is holding up sales," the representative said.
He added that Hyundai and Kia's market share reached 9.0 percent in the first nine months of this year, up from 7.9 per
cent reported for the same period last year.
