Hyundai Braces for “Tepid” Sales Growth

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo is urging the company's Hyundai and Kia units to push sales at all levels to offset "tepid" market growth in the second half of 2015.

"We are facing hard times in many ways," he told representatives of the group's foreign operations earlier today. He added, "We need to find a breakthrough in sales."

Hyundai-Kia's export sales have been hurt by a weak Japanese yen, increasing competition and slower sales growth in China and other emerging markets. Group sales overseas slid more than 3% in the first six months of the year.

The group's Korea Automotive Research Institute now expects the global auto market to expand only 1.2% this year, less than half the pace it forecast previously.