Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. (Hari), the official distributor of South Korean auto brand Hyundai, reported a 34-percent surge in sales in September on the back of the continued solid performance of its passenger cars.
“Just for September, we have sold 2,017 units, a 34-percent increase over last year. But year-to-date, the sales, so far, of 17,694 units, that’s a 9-percent growth,” Hari President and CEO Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo said in an interview at the launch of the Grand Starex variants under its Gold series, the Gold Premium and Platinum.
Hari’s sales of 2,017 units in September made it the third top-selling auto brand in the country, behind Mitsubishi, which sold 4,155 units, and Toyota, with 9,572 units.
Hari’s passenger-car segment led the growth, selling 1,490 units in September for a 45-percent year-on-year growth. Pushing the growth of the segment are the Eon, i-10 and the Accent, which remained Hari’s top-selling models.
Year-to-date, Hari sold 12,323 units of passenger cars, a 25-percent increase from the same period last year.
Hari’s light commercial vehicles (LCV) posted a 10-percent growth in September, with 507 units sold led by the Grand Starex, whose sales jumped 38 percent compared to the same month in 2013. Total LCV sales as of September, however, is 15 percent below its performance in the comparable period last year, due to supply constraint in the segment.
But Perez-Agudo said supply is already stable and expressed confidence growth is possible with the diversity of offerings for its family van bid, the Hyundai Starex.
“We do not have supply problems anymore with the Eon and i-10, and because of the new demand of the two new models, that’s why we are experiencing growth,” Agudo added, but maintained that 100-percent “normalization” of supply has not yet been realized, specifically for the diesel variant of the Hyundai Accent.
“If we’ve come from a 50-percent shortage and now it’s a 20-percent shortage, that’s already a success and it’s a good indicator that the demand is really still strong,” Agudo said.
Further, the introduction of the premium variants of the Grand Starex—the Gold Premium and the Platinum—is expected to drive the Korean brand’s bid to reach its full-year growth in sales of 9 percent over 2013’s 22,033 units, or to sell around 24,000 units.
The combined monthly sales expected from the two variants are 150 units to 200 units.
“We’re still on target with the 9 percent growth compared to last year so we’re sure until the end of the year to achieve the forecast,” Agudo said.
The target for the two variants, Agudo said, is in consideration of the capacity of local parts assemblers, as the Gold Premium and Platinum Premium marked the auto firm’s first foray into customization using locally sourced parts.
“We want to support the local auto parts assemblers. We want to buy the some of the accessories here for customization, also to generate employment. The unit itself is a completely built-up unit but without the [customized] seats,” Agudo clarified adding that the other parts of the two variants that are locally sourced include the dashboard, chrome grilles, 16-inch alloy wheels, as well as the 22-inch LED TV.
Catherine N. Pillas