SEOUL, KOREA - Korea’s car makers saw the share of high-end models in their car exports rise in the first quarter of this year despite unfavorable foreign exchange rate movements.
The Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association revealed on April 27 that the nation’s five major car makers, consisting of Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, GM Korea, Ssangyong Motor, and Renault Samsung, exported 786,605 units of cars worth US$11.73 billion in the January-March period of this year.
Their car export unit price averaged at $14,900. In other words, they exported cars at a unit price of about 15.5 million won. This figure is up 5.8 percent compared to $14,100 a year ago.
This can be interpreted as meaning the auto makers raised their export prices, overcoming the negative foreign exchange rate movements and the aggressive marketing by their Japanese rivals who benefited from the weak yen.
All of the five car makers turned out to have raised their car export unit prices. By company, the unit price was $16,100 for Hyundai Motor, $13,900 for Kia Motors, $14,000 for GM Korea, $16,700 for Ssangyong Motor, and $16,600 for Renault Samsung.
