South Korea's exports of automobiles will continue to grow strongly to reach a record high next year, despite a moderate rise in production and domestic sales, a report said Tuesday.
Outbound shipments of vehicles by the country's five automakers are expected to increase 5.5 percent in 2011 to over 2.9 million units, according to the report by the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA).
The country's automobile exports are expected to jump 28 percent this year to some 2.75 million cars. The figures do not include vehicles produced and sold overseas.
"Despite negative factors such as a strong Korean won, a continued recovery of the global automobile market and the planned introduction of
export-oriented models (by South Korean producers) will help push up exports to a record high," the report said.
Helped by an increase in exports, South Korean automakers' production is expected to rise 19.6 percent this year on strong overseas demand, it added.
Combined domestic sales by the five automakers are expected to rise 4 percent this year to about 1.45 million vehicles and then at a slower pace
of 3.5 percent in 2011 to some 1.5 million units.
Hyundai Motor Group, the world's fifth-largest automaker consisting of Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Motors Corp., currently controls nearly 80 percent of the local market, with its two companies' overseas sales, including vehicles produced at overseas plants, in the first 10 months of the year estimated at over 3.74 million units.
The other automakers in South Korea are GM Daewoo Auto & Technology, the local unit of U.S. automaker General Motors Co.; Renault Samsung Motors Co., the South Korean unit of French automaker Renault SA; and Ssangyong Motor Co., South Korea's smallest automaker, which recently sold a majority of its stake to India's utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.