Sales of South Korea‘s leading automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors continued on a downward spiral in the US in May.

Hyundai Motor, the country’s leading automaker, sold a total of 60,011 units in the US last month, down 15.4 percent compared to a year earlier when it sold 71,006 units, the company said.

“We will strengthen the company’s core competency and aim to roll out new models to overcome low growth,” it said in a press statement.

Sales of Hyundai Motor’s flagship models -- the mid-size SUV Sante Fe and the Electra compact sedan -- continued to show poor performance.

The Tucson compact SUV and the Accent compact sedan, meanwhile, showed positive growth among the 10 brands Hyundai Motor offers in the US.

A total of 10,600 Tucson units were sold, up 43.8 percent on-year in May, while sales of the Accent rose 6.3 percent, totaling 5,773 units.

Kia Motors’ prolonged sluggish sales since January continued last month, when the company sold 58,507 units, down 7 percent on-year.

The Kia Forte compact sedan, sold as K3 here, was the only model that showed positive growth of 19.1 percent.

Weak performance of the overall US auto market and aggressive incentives offered by carmakers were some of the reasons behind the local automakers’ poor sales, said Kwon Soon-wu, an analyst of SK Securities.

The US auto market shrunk for two consecutive months, with 1.5 million new vehicles sold in May, down 0.5 percent on-year, according to data compiled by US-based Autodata.

Seeking to overcome their sales slump, Hyundai Motor plans to roll out the new SUV Kona and Sonata New Rise there, while Kia Motors is expected to introduce the premium performance sedan Stinger in the second half of this year.

Meanwhile, the two automakers also posted disappointing sales in the domestic market and worldwide last month.

Hyundai Motor’s global sales dropped 14.2 percent to 367,969 units last month.

It sold 60,607 units here and 307,362 units overseas, falling 0.4 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively, compared to May 2016.

Kia Motors showed a 9.8 percent decline worldwide, totaling 219,128 units, company data showed. 

By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)