Hyundai Reports US Sales

Hyundai had a great year in the United States, as the Korean manufacturer was one of the three automakers that managed to sell more cars in 2009 than in 2008. This year seems to have started just as good, considering that Hyundai reported sales of 34,004 units, up 11 percent versus February 2009 and the same amount over January of this year. This means that the automaker has gained market share for the fourteenth consecutive month.

"Even though February is the shortest month of the year, the list of highlights for Hyundai is long," said Dave Zuchowski, Hyundai Motor America's vice president of national sales. "Our sales gains in February were driven by strong consumer response to new products like the Tucson, which was up 102 percent, and the all-new U.S.-built Sonata, which was just launched this month and has already driven a 58 percent sales increase.

“For the Hyundai brand as a whole, consumer retail sales were up 21 percent while incentive spending was down more than 30 percent. We're excited about the momentum we're carrying into March."

Zuchowski explained that February was a strong month for both Hyundai and the industry, especially taking into account the adverse weather conditions in the majority of the country's regions.

"While all of our sales regions showed year-over-year retail increases, bad weather definitely limited car shopping in our Eastern and Central regions, which accounts for about half our overall volume," he added. "In our Southern, South Central and Western regions, we saw retail sales increases of 39, 50 and 28 percent, respectively, which bodes well for a strong spring selling season for Hyundai and the entire industry."