Hyundai Set to Miss Sales Target for First Time Since 2008
- South Korea's largest automaker hurt by slowdown in China
- Analysts estimate Hyundai's 2016 sales to remain weak
Completed Hyundai Solaris vehicles sit ahead of distribution outside the Hyundai Motors Corp. automobile plant in St Petersburg.
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/BloombergHyundai Motor Co. is poised to sell fewer vehicles than it projected for the first time since the global financial crisis, after an economic slowdown sapped demand in China and emerging-market earnings slumped due to unfavorable exchange rates.
South Korea’s largest automaker will have to sell at least 50 percent more than its monthly average this year in December to reach its full-year target of 5.05 million vehicles. Such a feat is unlikely, according to five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. They also predict that Hyundai’s 2016 sales will be lower than the target set for this year given the absence of new best-selling models and continued weakness in Russia and Brazil.