South Korea's two largest carmakers have fallen victim to unfavorable foreign exchange rates that caused an across the board drop in earnings in the first half of 2014 despite better sales from last year, industry data showed Sunday.
Combined global sales of cars by Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., flagships of Hyundai Motor Group, the world fifth-largest automotive conglomerate, reached 4,042,960 vehicles in the January-June period, up a solid 5.4 percent from 3,836,445 units tallied for the year before.