<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Weak won drives up Korean car sales
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent
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Teacher Ng Hong Tin, his wife Benny and their three-year-old daughter Claris with their new Kia Cerato Forte. Mr Ng recently traded in his 41/2-year-old Kia Cerato for the new Cerato Forte. The newly launched Cerato Forte has helped Kia sell 984 cars in the first three months of the year. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
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Motorist Jason Chua has always been driving Japanese cars - until now.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story -->RELATED LINKS
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Streaking ahead
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The 35-year-old divisional manager booked a 1.6-litre Kia Cerato Forte recently and is looking forward to getting his car at the end of the month.
'This is my first Korean car. Both my two previous cars were Nissan Sunnys,' he said.
He added that he was drawn to the Kia because of its looks and price (below $45,000).
'I considered getting another Japanese car but when I did a price-value evaluation, I decided on the Kia,' he said.
'It's one of the nicest-looking designs around.'
Apparently, he is not the only one who thinks so.
The newly launched Cerato Forte has helped Kia sell 984 cars in the first three months of the year - more than double the sales in the same period last year.
This was despite a 14 per cent shrinkage in the new-car market on the back of a smaller certificate of entitlement (COE) supply.
Besides the new model, Kia - like fellow Korean brand Hyundai - is benefiting from the weak Korean won and the strong Japanese yen.
The Japanese currency hit as high as $1.73 per 100 yen in January - up more than 30 per cent from a year ago.
The Korean currency is now about 900 won per $1, down 40 per cent from the figure last year.
Hyundai, the biggest Korean manufacturer, has benefited most. Its sales in the first quarter soared by 174 per cent to 2,502 units - equivalent to what it sold in the first nine months last year.
The sales surge of cars from Seoul has been at some expense to other makes. The Chinese and Malaysian brands bore the brunt, with sales dropping by 42 per cent and 70 per cent respectively in the first three months.
Even Japanese brands were not spared, with sales shaved by 25 per cent. However, they retained the lion's share of the market, garnering a 57 per cent slice of the pie in the first quarter, compared to 68 per cent in the same period last year.
Mr Glenn Tan, group chief executive of Subaru agent MotorImage, said: 'Everyone has gone to buy Korean cars because they are $10,000 to $15,000 cheaper than similar Japanese models.
'If they were just $5,000 cheaper, we'd have a fighting chance. But not $15,000.'
He said it might be a long time before Japanese makes regain their lost market share. 'It's going to take a lot of brand-building,' he added.
Mr Vincent Ng, product manager at Honda agent Kah Motor, said the weak won is not the only reason for the current surge in Korean cars.
He attributed their sales spurt to the 'aggressive pricing that the Korean brands are adopting all over the world'.
The Japanese, he observed, are not able to respond likewise because they are 'reeling from losses' with severe sales contractions in the United States.
Looking ahead, he reckons Korean car sales will slow when COE premiums rise more sharply, possibly when supply is further constricted in the fourth quarter of this year.
That won't be a worry for repeat Kia customer Ng Hong Tin, 41.
The teacher recently traded in a 41/2-year-old Kia Cerato for a new Cerato Forte.
'I paid $45,000 for it. It's even cheaper than my old car, which was around $60,000,' a pleased Mr Ng said.
'It has a lot more features, and its OMV is $15,000 - my old car's OMV was $11,000. I'm getting better value.' OMV is open-market value, a term that refers to the cost of a car before taxes.
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Teacher Ng Hong Tin, his wife Benny and their three-year-old daughter Claris with their new Kia Cerato Forte. Mr Ng recently traded in his 41/2-year-old Kia Cerato for the new Cerato Forte. The newly launched Cerato Forte has helped Kia sell 984 cars in the first three months of the year. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->
Motorist Jason Chua has always been driving Japanese cars - until now.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story -->RELATED LINKS
<!-- Audio --><!-- Video --><!-- PDF -->
<!-- Photo Gallery -->
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The 35-year-old divisional manager booked a 1.6-litre Kia Cerato Forte recently and is looking forward to getting his car at the end of the month.
'This is my first Korean car. Both my two previous cars were Nissan Sunnys,' he said.
He added that he was drawn to the Kia because of its looks and price (below $45,000).
'I considered getting another Japanese car but when I did a price-value evaluation, I decided on the Kia,' he said.
'It's one of the nicest-looking designs around.'
Apparently, he is not the only one who thinks so.
The newly launched Cerato Forte has helped Kia sell 984 cars in the first three months of the year - more than double the sales in the same period last year.
This was despite a 14 per cent shrinkage in the new-car market on the back of a smaller certificate of entitlement (COE) supply.
Besides the new model, Kia - like fellow Korean brand Hyundai - is benefiting from the weak Korean won and the strong Japanese yen.
The Japanese currency hit as high as $1.73 per 100 yen in January - up more than 30 per cent from a year ago.
The Korean currency is now about 900 won per $1, down 40 per cent from the figure last year.
Hyundai, the biggest Korean manufacturer, has benefited most. Its sales in the first quarter soared by 174 per cent to 2,502 units - equivalent to what it sold in the first nine months last year.
The sales surge of cars from Seoul has been at some expense to other makes. The Chinese and Malaysian brands bore the brunt, with sales dropping by 42 per cent and 70 per cent respectively in the first three months.
Even Japanese brands were not spared, with sales shaved by 25 per cent. However, they retained the lion's share of the market, garnering a 57 per cent slice of the pie in the first quarter, compared to 68 per cent in the same period last year.
Mr Glenn Tan, group chief executive of Subaru agent MotorImage, said: 'Everyone has gone to buy Korean cars because they are $10,000 to $15,000 cheaper than similar Japanese models.
'If they were just $5,000 cheaper, we'd have a fighting chance. But not $15,000.'
He said it might be a long time before Japanese makes regain their lost market share. 'It's going to take a lot of brand-building,' he added.
Mr Vincent Ng, product manager at Honda agent Kah Motor, said the weak won is not the only reason for the current surge in Korean cars.
He attributed their sales spurt to the 'aggressive pricing that the Korean brands are adopting all over the world'.
The Japanese, he observed, are not able to respond likewise because they are 'reeling from losses' with severe sales contractions in the United States.
Looking ahead, he reckons Korean car sales will slow when COE premiums rise more sharply, possibly when supply is further constricted in the fourth quarter of this year.
That won't be a worry for repeat Kia customer Ng Hong Tin, 41.
The teacher recently traded in a 41/2-year-old Kia Cerato for a new Cerato Forte.
'I paid $45,000 for it. It's even cheaper than my old car, which was around $60,000,' a pleased Mr Ng said.
'It has a lot more features, and its OMV is $15,000 - my old car's OMV was $11,000. I'm getting better value.' OMV is open-market value, a term that refers to the cost of a car before taxes.
