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Hyundai, Kia seek to boost sales in Middle East with premium and green cars

Collected: 2016.03.16

Distributed: 2016.03.17

Source: Go Direct

[G90]

Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. will pull out all the stops to raise their vehicle sales in the slumping Middle Eastern auto market with their luxury sedans and eco-friendly cars.

According to South Korea’s largest auto maker Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia Motors on Monday, Kia’s All New K7 sedan will hit markets in the Middle East in the first half of this year and Hyundai’s premium sedan Genesis G90 (also known as EQ900 in Korea) in the latter half. Hyundai’s first dedicated hybrid car IONIQ and Kia’s Niro are also slated for debuts in the region later this year. With the premium sedans, the G90 and K7, the Korean auto giants aim to grab attention of middle- and upper-class consumers in countries like Saudi Arabia, while targeting consumers in Israel and Jordan, where demand for green cars is set to rise on the government’s support programs, with the IONIQ and Niro.

[K7]

The Korean car makers have been struggling in the region since last year, with their combined shipments falling 6 percent to 492,000 units in 2015 from 522,000 units in 2014, according to data compiled by the Middle East Automotive Council (MEAC). Hit by freefalling oil prices that have constrained the economy and consumer spending in the Middle East, Hyundai and Kia’s total January shipments plunged 37 percent to 25,900 units from 40,900 units in the same period a year ago.

However, with a growing consensus that oil prices might have bottomed out, the South Korean auto makers expect they would be able to see a turnaround in their sales in the region. The lift of international economic sanctions on Iran is also positive news for them.

By Noh Won-myung

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