Hyundai's Feb. sales fall 13 pct on reduced output

SEOUL, March 2 (Yonhap) -- Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest carmaker, said Monday its sales dropped 13 percent last month from a year earlier partly due to a shortage of parts caused by the outbreak of the new coronavirus, which limited its output.

The company sold 275,044 vehicles in February, down from 315,820 units a year earlier, it said in a statement.

Domestic sales plunged 26 percent to 39,290 units last month from 53,406 a year ago. Overseas sales declined 10 percent to 235,754 from 262,414 over the cited period.

Hyundai suspended its production lines in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, from Feb. 7-10 as their suppliers in China suspended production during an extended Lunar New Year holiday from Jan. 24 to Feb. 9.

It was the first time that Hyundai had suspended all of its domestic plants since 1997, when the Asian financial crisis affected local manufacturers and Mando Corp. stopped supplying parts to the carmaker.

Hyundai has seven domestic plants -- five in Ulsan, one in Asan and one in Jeonju -- and 10 overseas plants -- four in China and one each in the United States, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Russia, India and Brazil. Their combined capacity reaches 5.5 million vehicles.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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