Hyundai’s Oct. sales fall 1.6 pct as demand wanes

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s biggest carmaker, said Friday its sales fell 1.6 percent last month from a year earlier due to a slowdown in vehicle demand.

Hyundai Motor sold 371,421 vehicles in October, down from 377,332 units a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

Domestic sales rose 0.9 percent from 64,328 to 64,912 units during the cited period, while overseas sales declined 2.1 percent from 313,004 to 306,509, the statement said.

“With the pace of sales slowing in major markets, volatility in exchange rates, high lending rates and increasing geopolitical risks are expected to continue to weigh on sales results for the rest of the year,” it said.

The maker of Santa Fe SUVs and Sonata sedans said it will flexibly respond to changes in global markets by adjusting production and sales systems depending on local conditions.

While focusing on increasing sales of high-end models, Hyundai plans to keep the sales volume of gasoline hybrid models steady amid the slowdown in electric vehicles.

From January to October, its sales dropped 1.6 percent to 3,447,171 autos from 3,504,368 in the year-ago period.

Domestic sales fell 7.5 percent to 580,517 autos in the first 10 months from 627,847 units a year earlier. Its overseas sales were down 0.3 percent to 2,866,654 from 2,876,521 during the same period.