South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. said yesterday its August sales rose 24.6 per cent from a year earlier, helped by higher exports and as unionised workers made up for the output lost during a month-long strike.

The country's top auto maker said in a filing with the stock exchange that it sold 224,537 vehicles last month, compared with 180,241 a year ago.

The company, which is the world's sixth-largest auto maker by sales volume along with affiliate Kia Motors Corp., said it sold 173,223 units abroad in August, 28.5 per cent more than the 134,813 sold a year earlier.

Hyundai's sales at home gained 13 per cent to 51,314 units from a year ago.

"A rise in demand in North America and the Middle East helped exports, and the end of a strike lifted local sales as demand for sedans such as the Sonata increased," Jake Jang, a Hyundai spokesman, said by telephone.

"September sales are expected to rise further as people tend to buy new cars ahead of Chusok," he added, referring to a national holiday that starts on October 5 this year. Unionised workers at Hyundai resumed production on July 27 after agreeing with management on a wage package, including an average 5.1 per cent rise in base salaries. They had stopped working for several hours almost every business day since June 26.

Hyundai's August total sales jumped 73.9 per cent from July's revised sales of 129,122 units, with exports up 71.5 per cent from 101,025 in July.

Among exports, sales from Hyundai's overseas plants rose 30.3 per cent to 76,600 units in August from a year before. Hyundai has car factories in the United States, China, India and Turkey.

Domestic sales surged 82.6 per cent in August from 28,097 in July.

Hyundai, which also makes the Santa Fe sport utility vehicle, sold 1.68 million units in the first eight months of this year, 5.1 per cent more than the same period a year ago.

That included a 6.4 per cent gain in exports and a 0.5 per cent rise in local sales.