Poor Japanese sales prompt Hyundai pullout

Hyundai Motor Co of South Korea has said it will pull out of the Japanese passenger vehicle market because of slow sales.
Hyundai Motor Co of South Korea has said it will pull out of the Japanese passenger vehicle market because of slow sales.

Hyundai, South Korea's number one automaker, has sold only about 15,000 passenger cars in Japan since 2001.

The firm has said it will now focus on commercial vehicle sales.

Hyundai management has said if the Japanese passenger auto market improves, it could resume car sales there.

While Hyundai's sales were sluggish in Japan, the firm said its global auto sales in the third quarter surged 41 percent.