Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest carmaker, said Wednesday its sales in India contracted 2.6 percent on-year in January, mainly due to sluggish overall demand on the subcontinent.

The company, the flagship of Hyundai Motor Group, the world’s fifth-largest automotive conglomerate, said sales hit 33,405 units in the first month of the year, down from 34,302 units a year earlier.

India is the world’s third-largest single car market, and an important production and export base for the carmaker that has a plant in Chennai able to churn out 600,000 cars per year. In 2013, the company sold 380,002 units in India.

“The dip reflects sluggish demand in the country for the one-month period,” a Hyundai source said. He pointed out that since the Indian car market as a whole contracted some 6 percent, Hyundai actually did well under the circumstances.

Demand for the popular Grand i10 that started reaching consumers in August helped bolster numbers, with the sales of the mini car reaching 9,738 units, up from 9,077 vehicles sold in December. (Yonhap)