Toyota Pushes into Hyundai Country
Toyota is making a push into South Korea — the home market of international rival Hyundai Motor Co. — introducing four models including the Camry and Prius while downplaying the move as a direct challenge to domestic automakers.
Besides the top-selling Camry sedan and hybrid Prius, Toyota Motor Corp. Tuesday announced South Korean sales of its Camry hybrid and the RAV4, a compact SUV. Japanese automakers Honda Motor co. and Nissan Motor Co. have also entered the South Korean market in recent years.
Toyota has been active in South Korea since 2000 when it established a local arm and began selling the luxury Lexus the following year. Now the company is offering a broader range of choices to South Korean drivers under the Toyota brand, and aims to sell a total of 500 vehicles a month this year and 700 a month in 2010 through its five dealerships.
The world’s largest automaker competes with Hyundai in global markets. South Korea’s biggest vehicle manufacturer has emerged in recent years as a formidable foe of Toyota and has seen its market share grow in the U.S. and other countries.
Toyota officials took pains to depict the company’s bigger push into the South Korean market as anything but a challenge to dominant domestic manufacturers.
Yukitoshi Funo, executive vice president at the Toyota City, Japan based company, told reporters that Toyota simply wants to appeal to South Korean consumers who are interested in buying a foreign car.
“We are in no way thinking to conduct business here by targeting the South Korean domestic market,” he said. “We want to operate only as a maker of imported cars.”
Under the Lexus brand, Toyota sold 6,065 vehicles in South Korea last year.
Hyundai and affiliate Kia Motors Corp. dominate South Korea with a nearly 80 percent market share. Hyundai, however, has found it tough going in Japan. The Ulsan, South Korea-based company sold 496 vehicles in Japan last year, down 59 percent from the year before.
Sales this year, however, have recovered somewhat. Hyundai sold 634 vehicles in Japan during the first nine months of 2009.
Other South Korean companies also have found the Japanese consumer market a challenge.
Samsung Electronics Co., which has emerged as a global giant in consumer electronics and has taken on and beaten Japanese rivals in places such as the United States and Europe, stopped selling consumer products in Japan in 2007, citing poor profitability.
Japan enjoys a huge trade surplus with South Korea — $32.7 billion in 2008, according to South Korean figures.
10/20/2009 4:40 AM KELLY OLSEN, AP Business Writer SEOUL, South Korea