South Korean automakers scored poorly at home and abroad in May with overseas sales by the two largest exporters Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller sibling Kia Motors Corp. registering another double-digit fall against a year-ago period as they face tougher challenge from Chinese rivals in the largest automobile market.

According to the automakers Thursday, Hyundai Motor and its smaller sibling Kia Motors shipped out a total of 482,968 vehicles last month, down 14.3 percent from a year earlier. Overseas sales of Hyundai Motor came to 307,362 units, down 16.5 percent on year, while those of Kia Motors dropped 10.1 percent to 175,606 units last month.

Their sales have been drooping for the fifth consecutive month, helped little by the traditionally strong March-April period.

Given little upward momentum, the two are expected to miss their annual target of 8.25 million won set for this year.

The news hit hard on the two household car names. As of 1:39 p.m. Friday, shares of Hyundai Motor traded down 1.51 percent at 163,000 won, while those of Kia Motors were down 1.01 percent to 39,150 won from the previous session.

Conditions at home are no better. Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors received orders from the government to recall 238,000 vehicles after concluding their 12 models have defects including faulty canisters and loose wheel nuts last month.

Hyundai Motor’s domestic shipment came down 0.4 percent on year to 60,607 units last month, while Kia Motors saw its local sales drop 8.6 percent to 43,522 units due to sluggish sales of new cars.

Other Korean carmakers that sell mostly in Korea also did poorer than a year-ago period. Renault Samsung Motors Co. slipped to the bottom among five local makers by selling less than 10,000 units in May.

GM Korea Co. reported a 31.0 percent plunge in domestic sales to 11,854 units. Ssangyong Motor, Korean unit of India’s Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., was helped by new sports utility vehicle G4 Rexton and gained 11.4 percent in sales.

By Woo Je-yoon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]