Hyundai, Kia Report Sales Recovery

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors on Tuesday flagged 4% sales growth in 2018, suggesting a slow recovery from a slump linked to their lack of SUVs in the United States and diplomatic tensions with China. Hyundai and smaller affiliate Kia said demand was expected to soften in the US and Chinese markets as they unveiled a combined sales target of 7.55 million vehicles this year, from 7.25 million vehicles last year, Reuters reported. “The market environment is expected to be difficult due to a slowdown in major markets like the US and China, prolonged low growth in the global economy and trade protectionism in major countries,” Hyundai Motor said in a statement. Sales slumped 7% last year from 2016, falling well short of the firms’ target of 8.25 million vehicles and marking their third consecutive annual miss, as buyers in China and the United States increasingly shunned sedans for SUVs. A diplomatic row between China and South Korea over Seoul’s deployment of a US missile defense system also hit the carmakers’ sales in the world’s biggest auto market, although two countries recently agreed to normalize ties.