GM Korea sales inch up in Aug.

SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Yonhap) -- GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of U.S. automaker General Motors Co., said Thursday that its sales grew slightly from a year earlier last month as a rise in exports more than offset a cut in domestic sales.

The company sold 12,773 cars in South Korea last month, down 7.7 percent from the same month last year.

Exports, on the other hand, gained 5 percent on-year to 23,198 units.

Overall sales added 0.1 percent to 35,971.

"GM Korea's domestic sales in August shrank from the same month last year, but the Spark compact car, the Malibu passenger sedan and the only compact commercial vehicle in the country, the Damas, continued to maintain their sales momentum," the company said in a press release.

In August, 5,850 units of the Spark were sold here, marking the seventh consecutive month of more than 5,000 units in sales.

For the first eight months of the year, the company sold 389,460 cars globally, down 3.4 percent from the same period last year.

Domestic sales spiked 16.7 percent on-year to 113,912 cars over the cited period, while exports dropped 9.9 percent to 275,548 cars.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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