GM Korea's July sales jump 36 pct on exports

GM Korea-July sales

GM Korea's July sales jump 36 pct on exports

SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Yonhap) -- GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., said Monday its sales jumped 36 percent last month from a year earlier on strong exports.

GM Korea sold 26,066 vehicles in July, up from 19,215 units a year ago despite an extended chip shortage, the company said in a statement.

Domestic sales fell 16 percent on-year to 4,117 units last month from 4,886, but exports jumped 53 percent to 21,949 from 14,329 over the cited period on strong demand for the Trailblazer SUV, it said.

From January to July, sales declined 15 percent to 148,822 autos from 173,998 a year earlier.

In a two-track brand strategy, GM Korea sells domestically produced and imported vehicles in Asia's fourth-biggest economy.

Its lineup is composed of four locally assembled models -- the Spark mini car, the Malibu sedan, and the Trailblazer and Trax SUVs -- and five imported ones -- the Colorado pickup, the Bolt all-electric car, and the Equinox, Traverse and Tahoe SUVs.

Most of the models currently sold in South Korea are from the Chevrolet brand.

GM Korea plans to launch the GMC brand in the second half, with the Sierra Denali set to be released as the brand's launch model in the Korean market.

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