Hyundai capitulates in Japan
Korean maker can't make a go of selling passenger vehicles to the JapaneseNews agencies reported over the weekend that Hyundai has issued a statement to announce the cessation of passenger-vehicle sales in Japan. In the statement, the manufacturer left the door open to return to the Japanese market, but that seems unlikely in the short term. However, the Korean car manufacturer will continue to market its range of commercial vehicles in Japan.
According to a report from AP, Hyundai has sold around 15,000 passenger cars in Japan since 2001. To illustrate how poor that sales rate is, Hyundai sold three times as many cars in the much smaller Australian market for the one full year, 2008.
The Japanese situation is in marked contrast to Hyundai's global sales, which continue to boom and reportedly picked up a 41 per cent gain during the third quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year. Sales during the third quarter of 2009 totalled 824,181.
The Hyundai experience in Japan probably reflects the tough competition and the loyalty of domestic buyers to the local brands, something Hyundai has struggled to overcome in Australia too, within the VFACTS large-car segment.
Ironically, Hyundai is pulling out of Japan just as Toyota, which has suffered badly in global sales as a consequence of the Global Financial Crisis, is ramping up sales in the South Korean market.
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