South Korea’s Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors this week remarked that they were ready for only modest 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, which together make the world’s 5th largest automaker, said demand was expected to soften in the U.S. and Chinese markets as they unveiled a combined sales target of 7.55 million vehicles this year.
Analysts said that would be a slight increase on 2017, when the automakers are estimated to have sold about 7.3 million vehicles, their lowest in 5-years.
