S. Korea's auto industry should diversify global markets: Kia CEO

SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- South Korean automakers need to diversify their export
destinations and develop more fuel-efficient cars to ride out the current
worldwide recession, the chief executive of Kia Motors Corp. said Monday.
Korean carmakers, led by Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia, suffered a
shocking 18.2 percent decline in output last month as the global economic
downturn dampened demand for their vehicles.
"Global automakers have been engulfed by a wave of output cuts and restructuring
efforts and we are experiencing difficulties without exception," said Kia Motors
Chief Executive Officer Cho Nam-hong in a speech at an industry meeting.
"To overcome the crisis facing the auto industry, we need to diversity export
markets and improve the competitiveness of small cars," Cho said.
Hyundai, Kia and other local automakers are taking various steps to reduce their
rising inventories by cutting daily work hours or shutting down production lines.

More than half of South Korean-made cars are sold in the United States and
Europe, the economies of which have already sunk into recession.
The South Korean government is reportedly moving to cut the consumption tax on
vehicles by 30 percent to help local automakers better sell their cars at home,
as part of an effort to support the carmakers.
(END)