Hyundai Motor cuts output in all overseas plants, union says

ULSAN, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) -- Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top automaker, has curtailed production at its overseas plants in reaction to slowing sales, the company's labor union said Tuesday.

Like its global peers, Hyundai is reeling from the worst economic downturn in
decades amid slumping sales in major markets such as the United States, Europe
and China.
Hyundai has already cut production at its seven plants in South Korea, reducing
monthly output by 10 percent. It has also reduced output at its U.S. plant.
Hyundai, which has long relied on overseas markets to fuel growth, has overseas
plants in the U.S., China, India, Turkey and the Czech Republic.
"The company informed the union of its reduction of output at all of its overseas
plants," said Chang Kyo-ho, a union spokesman at Hyundai's main plant in Ulsan,
414 km southeast of Seoul. He added that the company will not cut production at
its Czech plant that went online last month.
The spokesman didn't say how much Hyundai plans to curtail output at its overseas
plants.
Chang, meanwhile, said while the company is aware that increasing production at
overseas plants could help exports, overall conditions are not suitable for such
measures.
He then said that Hyundai is not considering "acquiring other automakers like
General Motors Corp. because it's important to secure cash reserves for now."
The union leader added that while there is no serious problem associated with
cutting production this month, the situation could become grave if market
conditions do not improve in the new year.
Starting Monday, all domestic plants of Hyundai began cutting daily overtime in
the first such move since 1998, when South Korea's economy teetered on the edge
of collapse in the face of the Asian financial crisis.
Last month, Hyundai's vehicle sales fell 1.6 percent from a year earlier to
234,211 units, the company said Monday.