Ssangyong Motor

Korean carmakers will likely see their sales this year surpass the 5 million mark for the first time in
history, despite a slump in domestic sales.

The nation’s five automakers _ Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, GM Daewoo Auto & Technology, Ssangyong Motor and
Renault Samsung Motors _ sold 4.68 million units for the first 11 months of the year.

Considering that they are selling 400,000 to 500,000 vehicles a month, their full-year sales are expected to
reach at least 5 million.

Their sales growth is steady since the figure surpassed the 3 million mark in 1999 _ 3.43 million units in 2002,
3.67 million in 2003 and 4.5 million in 2004.

But interestingly, their domestic sales continued to fall _ 1.62 million units in 2002, 1.32 million in 2003,
1.09 million in 2004 and 1.01 million during the Jan.-Nov. period of 2005.

Exports, including sales of finished cars, sales of knock-down units and overseas production, is leading the
all-time high sales performance this year, according to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA)
Tuesday.

The automakers’ overseas sales came to a record high of 3.67 million, including the sales of 2.33 million finished
units, over the past 11 months.

The combined sales of the largest and second-largest automakers _ Hyundai and Kia _ are expected to reach 3.8
million this year at home and abroad, accounting for about 75 percent of the market.

The two subsidiaries of the Hyundai Automotive Group, which ranked the world’s seventh with 3.32 million units
in the 2004 sales, have set the goal of 4.5 million in sales for 2006.

Hyundai-Kia prepares to vie for the world’s fifth place with DaimlerChrysler (fifth in 2004), PSA/Peugeot-Citroen (
sixth) and Nissan Motor (eighth) in global sales.

The automotive group has already overtaken major competitors, such as Honda Motor, Renault, BMW and Volvo.

The full-year sales of GM Daewoo will likely exceed the 1 million mark in 2005. Ssangyong forecast their sales to
approach 160,000 units and Renault Samsung expect 110,000 units.

GM Daewoo and Ssangyong Motor ranked the world’s 17th and 27th in the 2004 sales, competing with the Shanghai
Automotive Industry Corp. (18th) and Volvo Truck Group (24th).

While Korean carmakers are suffering slackening domestic sales in contrast to brisk exports, imported car sales
set an all-time high this year as foreign carmakers have pushed an aggressive marketing campaign to increase
their market share.

Foreign carmakers, such as BMW, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, sold 27,090 units here over the past 11 months,
marking a 30 percent growth from a year before.

Last year, sales of foreign car brands in the Korean market broke though the plateau of 20,000 units for the first
time.

Foreign automakers have put the emphasis on increasing their shares of the premium sedan market as part of efforts
to differentiate themselves from Korean carmakers, a Volkswagen official said.

``As the imported car market continues to expand here, they are trying to tap the low-end market to increase their
presence,’’ he said.

- Source from The Korea Times (Dec 6, 2005) -