GM Korea's April sales rise 1.7 pct on SUV demand

SEOUL, May 2 (Yonhap) -- GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., said Thursday its sales rose 1.7 percent last month from a year earlier on strong demand for its sport utility vehicles.

GM Korea sold 39,242 vehicles in April, up from 38,575 units the previous year, helped by sales of the Trax compact crossover and the Equinox midsize SUV, the company said in a statement.

Domestic sales jumped 20 percent to 6,433 units last month from 5,378 a year ago. But exports fell 1.2 percent to 32,809 from 33,197 over the period, it said.

To boost sales, the carmaker plans to introduce 15 vehicles in the local market over the next five years. It launched the U.S.-made Equinox SUV and the upgraded Chevrolet Spark minicar last year.

In the third quarter, it plans to add the Traverse SUV and the midsize Colorado pickup truck in the Korean market.

For the January-April period, the company's sales fell 3.3 percent to 153,661 autos from 158,961 in the same period of 2018, the statement said.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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