Hyundai sales up by 5% in H1

Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. (Hari), the official distributor of Korean vehicle brand Hyundai in the Philippines, posted a 5-percent growth in sales to 10,355 units in the first half, from 9,834 units a year ago.

In a statement issued Thursday, Hari attributed this sales boost to the strong performance of its passenger car offerings, which grew by 18 percent to 4,726 units in the first semester from 4,004 units a year ago.

The company last year brought to the Philippine market the latest incarnations of the Accent and Elantra models, further fueling its growth over the past months.

Sales of the company’s light commercial vehicle (LCV) nameplates, however, took a 3-percent drop in the January-June period, to 5,629 units from last year’s 5,830 units.

In June alone, Hari registered a 13-percent increase in sales, selling 2,293 vehicles vis-a-vis the 2,031 units sold in the same month the previous year.

Last month’s passenger car sales zoomed to 1,415 units, 62 percent better than last year’s 871 units. LCV sales, on the other hand, slipped 24 percent to 878 units from last year’s 1,160 units.

Hari president and chief executive Maria Fe Perez-Agudo expressed confidence that the second half would even be better for the Hyundai distributor.

“As we continue to institutionalize Hyundai’s global dealership standards among our dealers across the country, we are confident that it will further enhance total customer experience with our brand and ultimately keep us on an upward track in our sales growth, and sustain market leadership in specific segments of the domestic automotive industry,” Agudo said.