South Korea’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. fared well in Europe in the first four months of this year, industry data showed Wednesday, despite a weak Japanese yen giving an advantage to Toyota Motor Corp. and other Japanese rivals.
Hyundai and Kia sold 258,950 vehicles in Europe between January and April, down 0.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data.
Still, their combined market share in Europe edged up to 6.2 percent from 5.8 percent a year ago, according to the data.
Meanwhile, Toyota sold 179,342 units in Europe during the cited period, down 13 percent from a year earlier. Its market share in Europe edged down to 4.3 percent from 4.6 percent from a year earlier.
The move illustrated that Japan’s weakening currency has not apparently helped the world’s largest carmaker increase its sales in Europe. The yen fell more than 20 percent against the U.S. dollar since September on the back of Japan’s aggressive monetary easing meant to stimulate the world’s third-largest economy.
Analysts and industry officials said Toyota and other Japanese carmakers have not benefited from a weak yen because 80 percent of their total production is overseas. (Yonhap News)
