Hyundai's Aug. sales rise 12 pct despite chip shortage

SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Yonhap) -- Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest carmaker, said Thursday its sales rose 12 percent in August from a year earlier despite an extended chip shortage.

Hyundai sold a total of 334,794 vehicles in August, up from 300,004 units a year earlier on robust overseas demand for its models, the company said in a statement.

Domestic sales fell 3.5 percent to 49,224 units from 51,034 during the period, while overseas sales climbed 15 percent to 285,570 from 248,970, the statement said.

To prop up sales in the second half, Hyundai said it plans to launch the IONIQ 6 all-electric model and other competitive models in global markets.

The IONIQ 6 is the second model embedded with Hyundai Motor Group's own EV-only electric-global modular platform (E-GMP) following the IONIQ 5 launched in April last year.

Hyundai plans to introduce the platform-based IONIQ 7 SUV model in 2024. For its all-electric models, Hyundai uses alphanumeric names like its bigger rivals, such as BMW, whose models are named Series No. 1-8.

From January to August, sales dropped 3.8 percent to 2,544,681 autos from 2,644,649 units during the same period of last year.

Hyundai has set a sales goal of 4.32 million units for this year, higher than the 3.89 million sold last year.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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