Hyundai wants big market share in Myanmar

The Korean manufacturer aims to raise its market share in Myanmar to over 15 % in the next three or four years, taking advantage of the huge popularity of South Korean culture in the country.

Kolao Holdings, the sole dealer for the automaker there, said Hyundai Motor, which opened its first showroom in Yangon in August, plans to set up 14 dealerships in major cities by 2018 as it seeks to crack into the small, but growing market dominated by Japanese carmakers.

“Young people in Myanmar who watch Korean dramas visit our showroom and look for cars that were shown in the dramas,” Oh Sei-young, chief executive of Kolao Holdings, said at a media briefing. “Hyundai is really keen on the Myanmar market.”

South Korean culture, known as the “Korean Wave” or Hallyu, has swept through Asia in recent years generating billions of dollars in revenue from drama and pop music. Myanmar’s car market started to bloom around 2011, after the quasi-civilian government of President Thein Sein took over from the military government, allowing some old cars to be swapped for permits to import newer models.

Myanmar will have a total 331,468 passenger cars registered this year, up 24 % from a year earlier, according to Kolao, adding only six out of 1,000 people own cars there. Hyundai Motor, which sells the Starex van and Elantra small sedan in Myanmar, targets sales of 1,500 cars next year in the country, Oh said.

source: INAUTONEWS
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