HYUNDAI STRUGGLES TO REV UP MARKET SHARE
SEOUL — Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s biggest car maker, forecast a slowdown in sales in 2018 as political risks dent demand for its vehicles in the world’s largest markets.
Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia Motors said on Tuesday their combined sales in 2017 dropped 7% to 7.25-million units, the least in five years and a million short of its record target.
Citing stalling global economic growth, rising protectionism and dangers posed by geopolitics as threats, the companies set a goal to sell 7.55-million vehicles KIGALI-Rwanda will now issue visas to visitors on arrival in the landlocked East African country.
The Rwanda Immigration Authority announced on its Twitter account that the new development would be effected from midnight January 1, 2018.
“To Citizens of the World; Welcome to Rwanda where, starting from Today (01/01/2018), you can ALL get visa upon arrival,” read the tweet, which went ahead to promote the new development through hashtag #NewVisaRegime.
According to Rwanda officials, the new regulation will allow easier movement of people seeking business or visiting the country of 12 million people.
Economic pundits see this as yet another step by the Paul Kagame leadership to get the country’s economic take off from her current 8 per cent growth rate of GDP to 10 per cent.
Rwandan growth rate is the highest in the region, with Kenya’s having registered a slump in its growth to a five-year low of 4.4 per cent.
The decision was arrived at early November by the Directorate General of Immigration that had resolved to issue a 30-day visa to all nationals across the world.
In addition, foreigners will use Resident ID Cards for entry into the country, including the use of electronic gates (Automated Passenger Clearance System) at Kigali International Airport. - standardmedia.co.ke in 2018.
With Ford Motor on its heels, Hyundai Motor group is fighting to maintain its rank as the world’s fifth-biggest car maker after underperforming rivals in the US, where a booming demand for sport utility vehicles (SUV) exposed the Korean maker’s dearth of models.
Hyundai is also preparing to catch up with makers such as Volkswagen and Nissan Motor in the field of technology as the industry spends billions on autonomous and electric vehicles.
Shares of Hyundai Motor fell 4.2%, the most in about three weeks, while those of Kia fell 2.1% in Seoul on Tuesday, after they failed to meet their targets for the third consecutive year.
"I don’t expect them now to go back to the time they sold about 8-million cars," said Kim Joon-sung, an analyst at Meritz Securities, adding that the car makers were still recovering from the blow they received in China in 2017.
Hyundai was hit by a boycott in China, which halved sales in its biggest market, after South Korea decided to deploy a US missile defence system on its soil, which China considered a threat.
To help reclaim some of the markets, Hyundai is planning to expand its SUV line-up in China from four to seven by 2020, while in the US it proposes to introduce new SUVs such as the small Kona and a new Santa Fe early in 2018.
The two car makers are also bolstering investments in new areas such as autonomous driving technology, artificial intelligence and environmentally friendly vehicles.
Hyundai set up new research institutes in 2017, including one in Silicon Valley, to catch up on these new technologies.
They are also planning to bring to market as many as 38 green cars by 2025, including an electrified Kona SUV with a range of 400km and a Genesis luxury electric vehicle with a range of 500km.
-Bloomberg