Hyundai, Kia decline in January
China sales of Hyundai and Kia brand vehicles in January totaled 97,994 units, according to Beijing Hyundai Motor Co., a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Co. and Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp.
The company didn't disclose how much the sales changed compared with the same month last year. But according to LMC Automotive, the sales were down 16.5 percent from a year earlier.
The figure also accounted for 18.4 percent of the two brands' worldwide sales for the month.
Separate China sales for the two brands were unavailable.
Beijing Hyundai operates three assembly plants in China with a combined capacity of 900,000 vehicles a year.
In addition, Kia Motors' joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Corp. has two plants with a combined annual production of 430,000 units.
Last year in China, the Korean automakers sold 770,705 Hyundais, up 4 percent from 2010, and 459,938 Kias, up 30 percent from the previous year, according to LMC Automotive.
To strengthen their presence in China, Beijing Hyundai and Dongfeng Yueda Kia seek to build new assembly plants in the country.
