Ssangyong Motor

Korean automakers posted their highest sales for the year in September as they boosted exports and the Korean
Thanksgiving holiday falls a month later this year.

Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co., Ssangyong Motor Co. and Renault Samsung Motors Co.
sold a combined 547,371 vehicles in September, up 46 percent from 375,132 units in the same month last year.

Demand last year was depressed by the Chusok national holiday. Automakers shut down factories for four to five
days and showrooms closed during the period. This year Chusok holidays fall in October.

``September sales were spurred by carmakers shipping more vehicles to prepare for the Chusok holidays,'' said
Cho In Karp, an analyst at Seoul Securities said today. ``In October sales will return to a normal level.''

Hyundai Motor, the country's biggest automaker, sold 264,014 of its Sonata sedans, Santa Fe sport-utility vehicles
and other models last month, 52 percent more than last year, the Seoul-based company said in an e-mailed statement
 today.

Best Month

Of that total, domestic sales rose 47 percent to 56,093 units, the highest since the beginning of this year.
Overseas sales increased 54 percent to 207,921 units. Sales from Hyundai Motor's plants in China, the U.S., India
and Turkey rose 5.6 percent to 82,625.

``The overseas sales were robust last month and we shipped more vehicles overseas and domestically to compensate
for the lost production in July,'' said Jake Jang, a Hyundai Motor spokesman said in Seoul today.

Kia Motors, South Korea's second-largest automaker, sold 116,411 of its Lotze sedans, Sportage SUVs and other
models in September, 67 percent more than a year earlier. Of that total, domestic sales climbed 50 percent to
27,011 and exports surged 73 percent to 89,400.

Kia, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor, sold 93 percent more vehicles last month compared with in August, when the
carmaker's output disrupted by strike.

Kia's workers ended a strike on Aug. 31 after getting a 5.7 percent raise in monthly base pay. The unionized
workers had walked off their job for several hours a day since mid-July.

The company plans to break ground on a factory in the U.S. state of Georgia on Oct. 20. The factory will have
annual production capacity of 400,000 vehicles.

SsangYong's SUVs

SsangYong Motor Co. sold 13,985 of its Rexton, Actyon and other SUVs in September, 2.6 percent more than a year
earlier, led by exports. Exports gained 5.2 percent to 7,479 units while the domestic sales dropped 0.3 to 6,506,
the carmaker said in an e-mailed statement today. SsanagYong on Aug. 31 settled a seven-week strike that cost
the automaker 380 billion won.

Hyundai Motor shares closed 0.5 percent lower at 80,600 won today in Seoul. Kia Motors rose 2 percent to 15,650
won and Ssangyong Motor gained 0.7 percent to 4,640 won while the benchmark Kospi index rose 0.2 percent.

GM Daewoo, which makes 10 percent of the vehicles sold worldwide by General Motors Corp., sold 137,188 units
last month, 28 percent more than a year ago, setting a new monthly record.

GM Daewoo sold 13,003 Tosca sedans and Winstorm SUVs last month domestically, rising 44 percent from a year ago.
The Incheon, South Korea-based company exported 124,185 vehicles overseas, 26 percent more than in September
last year.

Renault Samsung Motors Co., a unit of France's Renault SA, sold 15,773 of its SM7 sedans and other models last
month, 45 percent more than a year earlier, setting a monthly record. Domestic sales increased 12 percent to
11,866. Exports surged to 3,907 in September, compared with 284 in the same month last year.

- Source from Bloomberg (2nd Oct, 2006) -