Hyundai's car selling prices soared over past 5 yrs, shows data

SEOUL: Hyundai Motor's vehicle selling prices soared over the past five years due to a weak won (South Korean currency), higher costs and high-end models, the company's data showed on Monday.

In the domestic market, the average selling price of Hyundai's passenger vehicles rose to 53.19 million won (about $39,210) in the January-March period, up 41 per cent from 37.74 million won (around $27,821) for all of 2019, according to the company's earnings reports.

Hyundai's overseas vehicle selling prices also jumped to 64.19 million won (around $47,319) in the first quarter (Q1), up 95 per cent from 32.98 million won (around $24,312) in 2019 mainly due to the won's weakness against the US dollar, reports Yonhap News Agency.

"A combination of a weak won, rising manufacturing costs, and increased sales of SUVs and high-end Genesis models drove up the selling prices of vehicles sold overseas, in particular," a company spokesperson said.

But Kia reported a much lower increase in vehicle selling prices at home and abroad during the cited period.

Its domestic car-selling prices rose 4.3 per cent to 34.01 million won (around $25,073) from 32.59 million won (around $24,027), while overseas car-selling prices climbed 9.9 per cent to 33.06 million won (around $24,373) from 30 million won (around $22,105), the data showed.