By Shim Jae-yun
Staff Reporter

SEOUL - Hyundai Motor and Toyota Motor, leading automakers of Korea and Japan, are locked in a tough competition, desperate to increase sales in their counterpart’s market.

The two companies, the largest automaker in each country, first forayed into each other’s market earlier this year.

Up until now, Toyota presented their high-end Lexus to the Korean market, and has continued to register unexpected outstanding performance, selling 265 units by the end of April.

In contrast, Hyundai has failed to meet its target performance in Japan, selling less than 100 units as of the end of April.

Buoyed by brisk sales, Toyota recently raised its target sales up to 900 units by the end of this year. Should the import car market recover, Toyota may be able to expect up to 1,000 sales this year, said a Toyota official.

Toyota’s success here has mainly been due to the prospering sales of large-sized sedans with engine capacities larger than 4,000 cc. Sales of the LS430, the major Lexus model in the Korean market, reached 116 by the end of April

Regarding the secret of success in the Korean market, the Toyota official cited Toyota’s unique tactics of focusing on one-stop service, covering sales and after-sales, as well as various incentives.

Toyota has also been offering low prices compared with Mercedes Benz, and BMW.

"What made us record relatively booming sales in Korea has been the unique marketing tactics, with a focus on customer satisfaction," a Toyota official said.

Annoyed by lackluster sales in the Japanese market, Hyundai is seeking to comprehensively revise its sales strategy in the Japanese market.

Earlier, Hyundai planned to sell 5,000 cars this year and 30,000 units within five years, with the aim of selling 100,000 cars within 10 years.

But sales performance so far has been very disappointing. Although Hyundai submitted its major models, like the Elantra, Santa Fe and Trajet XG, it sold only 12 cars in January. Hyundai models are extremely similar to many Japanese models that are already firmly entrenched in the market there.

A Hyundai official deplored that the Japanese car market has remained very difficult to access, ascribing the sluggish sales to low brand recognition among Japanese consumers.

In a bid to lay the ground for further sales in the difficult to penetrate Japanese market, Hyundai is seeking to prop up its marketing network in Japan this year.

Traditionally, Japan has remained relatively closed to foreign automakers, which sold only 270,000 cars last year, 5 percent of the entire car market.

But Hyundai is confident it will continue to increase its share in the Japanese market, citing the improved image of Hyundai cars among Japanese clients.