Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s No.1 automaker, said Monday that its January sales dipped 0.3 percent from a year earlier, citing fewer working days ahead of this year’s Lunar New Year holidays as the main reason.

The company said it sold 411,508 vehicles in January, down slightly from 412,894 units tallied for the year before.

Its domestic sales, which had generally hurt overall numbers in the past, actually gained 2.6 percent to 51,525 vehicles, while overseas shipments contracted 0.7 percent to 359,983 cars.

Production at Hyundai’s local factories dropped 7.9 percent, highlighting the reduced working days, while overseas production moved up 2.4 percent.

“Less working days affected production and sales for the company,” Hyundai said.

The Lunar New Year, which fell on Friday this year, was a three-day holiday in South Korea.

But the demand for new cars like the Genesis sedan bolstered numbers along with the Tucson ix and Santa Fe sport utility vehicles, the company said.

Sales of the premium vehicle Genesis, featuring Hyundai’s first all-wheel drive system for a sedan, soared 223.6 percent to 3,728 units.

In addition, sales of the Azera and its hybrid model reached 8,134 units, making it the best-selling Hyundai car last month.

For 2014, the company expects greater competition across the board that will require the carmaker to respond more quickly to any changes.

The carmaker, part of the Hyundai Motor Group, the world’s fifth-largest automotive conglomerate, said it will take steps to strengthen its growth potential in the new year so it can take advantage of the likely increase in its consumer demand down the road. (Yonhap)