Hyundai Motor Group is expected
to raise its global sales target to 8.4 million vehicles in 2015 worldwide
despite worries about a weaker Japanese yen and slowing sales in emerging
markets.
According
to company officials on Thursday, chairman Chung Mong-koo will announce the new
sales target on Jan. 2 during a speech at the group’s New Year ceremony in
Seoul.
“Our
sales and marketing divisions have already started drawing up next year’s plans
under the increased sales goal,” said a company official declining to be named.
“In
Korea alone, we aim to sell 1.14 million vehicles, including 660,000 for Hyundai and 480,000 for Kia.”
Hyundai Motor and its affiliate
Kia Motors sold a combined 7.24
million vehicles as of November, up 4.8 percent from a year ago. The Korean
automotive duo recently said they were set to hit a record 8 million mark at
the end of this month.
The
2015 sales target reflects a 5 percent growth from this year. The figure also
outpaces an estimated 4 percent growth of overall global car sales next year.
The Hyundai-affiliated
Korea Automotive Research Institute predicted that automotive sales in the
global market would grow about 3.9 percent to about 87.1 million vehicles next
year.
“In the
past, a weaker yen took a toll on Hyundai and Kia. But the situation has
changed as the two carmakers have secured their own competitiveness,” said Park
Hong-jae, head of the institute.
“Considering
Toyota’s tendency to seek stability on a falling yen, Hyundai-Kia needs to pour resources more
aggressively into emerging markets next year,” he said, adding that the
yen-dollar exchange rate could fall to around 120 yen to a dollar by 2018.
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