Hyundai Motor revises down Aug sales figures by 5.2 pct

SEOUL, Sept 6 (Reuters) Hyundai Motor Co , South Korea's top auto maker, said on Wednesday it revised down August sales figures by 5.2 percent after the company found an error in last month's export numbers.

Hyundai said in a filing with the stock exchange that it sold 212,909 vehicles in August, 18.1 percent higher than 180,241 units a year ago. On Friday, the company erroneously announced it had sold 24.6 percent more vehicles, a total of 224,537.

The company, which is the world's sixth-largest auto maker by sales volume along with affiliate Kia Motors Corp.

, said it sold 161,595 units abroad in August, 19.9 percent more than the 134,813 sold a year earlier. Its previous figure was 28.5 percent.

Hyundai also said on Wednesday the number of cars exported from domestic plants was revised down by 11,628 vehicles to 84,995 from a previous figure of 96,623. A Hyundai spokesman said it erroneously used data from August 2004.

After the change, Hyundai's August total sales showed a 64.9 percent jump from July's revised sales of 129,122 units, instead of a 73.9 percent gain. Exports were up 60 percent from 101,025 in July. Hyundai had reported a 71.5 percent jump on Friday.

However, Hyundai's domestic sales and sales at overseas plants were not changed.

Hyundai's sales at home rose 13 percent to 51,314 units from a year ago.

Among exports, sales from Hyundai's overseas plants rose 30.3 percent to 76,600 units in August from a year before.

Hyundai has car factories in the United States, China, India and Turkey.

Hyundai, which also makes the Santa Fe sport utility vehicle, sold 1.66 million units in the first eight months of this year, 4.3 percent more than the same period a year ago.

That total was less than the 1.68 million units initially reported on Friday.

The January-August figure included a 5.4 percent gain in exports and a 0.5 percent rise in local sales.

Hyundai's revision also changed the combined sales figures at South Korean auto makers in August.

Combined August vehicle sales at South Korea's five auto makers gained 1.6 percent to 386,825 vehicles from 380,716 a year earlier. The previously reported gain was 4.7 percent, with 398,453 vehicles.

Exports were up 2.4 percent to 297,974 vehicles last month, with domestic sales down 1.1 percent to 88,851.

Shares in Hyundai closed 1.3 percent down at 83,400 won, compared to the wider market's <.ks11> 0.31 percent fall.

REUTERS PV DS1545