Hyundai Motor America on April 1 announced an all-time sales record for both the first quarter of the year and for the month of March as the company's all-new Sonata and Tucson clearly connected with new-car buyers across the country.
The announcement was made from the floor of the New York Auto Show where on Wednesday the company introduced its second and third iterations of the 2011 Sonata. The Sonata Hybrid, the company's first U.S. hybrid, gets up to 39 mpg on the highway, using breakthrough lithium-polymer battery technology. The Sonata 2.0T delivers 274 horsepower from its turbocharged four-cylinder engine, while attaining an estimated 34 mpg.
In March, the company sold 47,002 vehicles, up 15.4 percent vs. one year ago, marking the 15th consecutive month of year-over-year retail market share gains for Hyundai. And for the quarter, Hyundai Motor America sold 111,509 vehicles, outpacing the previous record first quarter of 2006. Retail-only sales data indicates that March marks Sonata's emergence as America's third best-selling mid-size sedan, trailing only Camry and Accord, and outselling vehicles like the Altima, Fusion and Malibu in showrooms across the country.
"It's gratifying to announce these strong results in New York as we introduce three new models, including our new flagship luxury sedan, Equus, to the freshest lineup in the industry," said Dave Zuchowski, Hyundai Motor America's vice present of national sales. "We're confident improving availability of our new products will allow us to sustain this strong sales momentum."
On a year-over-year basis, Sonata was up 52.6 percent, Tucson was up 129.1 percent, Santa Fe was up 62.8 percent, and Genesis was up 31.9 percent, marking the 9th consecutive month of year-over-year sales gain for Genesis.
CARLINE MAR/2010 MAR/2009 CY/2010 CY/2009 ------- -------- -------- ------- ------- ACCENT 4,233 5,829 15,288 13,723 SONATA 18,935 12,406 31,747 25,657 ELANTRA 8,225 9,510 23,881 21,795 TIBURON 0 1,891 0 2,910 SANTA FE 9,548 5,866 24,716 16,113 AZERA 225 387 698 1,003 TUCSON 3,084 1,346 8,041 3,678 ENTOURAGE 0 273 0 2,985 VERACRUZ 607 1,587 1,561 4,045 GENESIS 2,145 1,626 5,577 3,945 ------- ----- ----- ----- ----- TOTAL 47,002 40,721 111,509 95,854 ----- ------ ------ ------- ------
