HARI raises sales growth forecast

MANILA, Philippines - Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. (HARI) has accelerated its sales growth target this year to 20 percent, from a flat growth in January as the supply chain rcontinues to recover.

“The target this year is 20 percent. Actually in January, I said zero, but the supply is coming in, even if not yet at a normal level. It looks like we can achieve a 20 percent target, “ said HARI president and CEO Fe Perez-Agudo during HARI’s thanksgiving party Friday for the recognition given to its Elantra model as the 2012 Car of the Year by the Car Awards Group.

She said there is still a supply backlog of three months particularly for its Elantra, Accent, and Starex models. She particularly noted that demand for the Elantra model surged 50 percent over the past three weeks since it was named car of the year.

HARI’s sales grew a mere one percent last year with 20,297 units from 20,172 units in 2010. Its 2011 performance was largely bogged down by a 10 percent decline in commercial vehicle sales, to 9,597 units from 10,722 units in 2010.

HARI, however, closed the first quarter of 2012 with a 44 percent growth in car sales due to the strong turnover of passenger car (PC) models. There were 6,767 units sold from January to March, up from 4,712 units sold in the same period last year.

The company said sales of PC models such as the i10,Accent and the Elantra, posted a 127 percent increase for the first three months of the year to 4,297 units against 1, 889 units in the same period last year .

HARI, which imports wholly-built cars from Korea, also stands to greatly benefit from the implementation of the ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement that will reduce its tariff obligations by 20 to 30 percent and greatly reduce backlog.

Agudo said that while the reduction of tariff obligations for car importers like HARI will not immediately translate to lower unit prices,but will improve the services offered by dealers.