S Korea's Hyundai, Kia benefit from outlook for rising market share in U.S.

South Korea's top automaker Hyundai and its affiliate Kia benefitted from positive outlook for rising market share in the U.S.


The combined sales of Hyundai and Kia in May are expected to reach 115,434, or 10.9 percent of total sales in the U.S., according the report released on Thursday by TrueCar.com, a California-based automotive industry data provider.


The market share only lags behind General Motors with 21.3 percent and Ford with 17.8 percent, the report said. Market shares of Toyota and Honda are projected to fall to 10.3 percent and 8.8 percent respectively due to production disruption since the March 11 earthquake in Japan.


Earlier this week, Hyundai and Kia were hit hardest by an unexpected walkout at one of its key auto engine part maker Yoosung Enterprise. The labor strike crippled production of some models, and shares in Hyundai and Kia in turn plunged 5.39 percent and 4.69 percent respectively on Monday.


However, South Korean police on Wednesday raided the Yoosung production lines occupied by striking workers and dispersed them, ending the weeklong walkout.


Hyundai jumped 2.05 percent to close at 248,500 won on Friday, and Kia edged up 0.27 percent to 75,100 won. Hyundai and Kia soared 5.64 percent and 6.7 percent respectively in the previous session.


"TrueCar.com's sales outlook tends to be higher than actually unveiled, but Hyundai and Kia are expected to reach a combined market share of over 10 percent in May," Kim Byung-kwan, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities in Seoul, told Xinhua.


Shares in Hyundai and Kia were also boosted by expectations their Japanese rivals such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan may have trouble in normalizing assembly lines longer than expected, Kim added.
(Source:http://news.xinhuanet.com)