Kia's June sales drop 13 pct amid China woes

SEOUL, July 3 (Yonhap) -- Kia Motors Corp. said Monday its vehicle sales fell 13 percent last month from a year earlier largely hit by lower demand in China.

The country's second-biggest carmaker by sales sold a total of 232,370 vehicles in June, down from 267,976 units a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

"Among others, sharp sales declines in China continued to drive down monthly results," the company said in a statement, citing a row between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea.

China has taken measures against travel packages to South Korea and other products as part of its retaliation against the THAAD installation. Seoul and Washington have argued THAAD is purely aimed at countering missile threats from North Korea. But Beijing has opposed the system, arguing it could be used against it.

Domestic sales fell 11 percent year-on-year to 47,015 units in June from 52,506, and overseas sales sank 14 percent to 185,355 from 215470 over the same period, it said.

In the January-June period, Kia's combined sales declined 9.4 percent to 1.32 million autos from 1.46 million last year, the statement said.

Affected by the THAAD row, Kia's sales in China fell 54 percent to 110,667 autos in the January-May period from 240,588 units a year earlier, the company said.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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