Hyundai Motor America announced record January sales of 37,214 units, up 22 percent versus 2010.
January retail sales were up 58 percent from last year thanks to continued strong performance from Sonata (sales up 150 percent) and the concurrent launches of the all-new 40-mpg Elantra, Sonata Hybrid and Equus premium luxury sedan. Fleet mix was 12 percent.
“Our January sales results were encouraging, continuing the momentum of our best year ever, amidst signals that the economy is stabilizing on a trajectory of steady, sustained growth,” said Dave Zuchowski, Hyundai Motor America’s executive vice president, national sales.
Sales of the American-made Elantra and Sonata were up 26 percent and 150 percent, respectively. Genesis continued its impressive growth with the 19th consecutive month of year-over-year sales increases. Equus, Hyundai’s all-new flagship outsold several flagship competitors in its first full month of sales. According to Automotive Lease Guide, Equus residual value is unsurpassed by Lexus LS, BMW 7-Series, and Mercedes S-Class.
Hyundai sold 4,792 cars (2011 Elantra sedan and 2011 Sonata Hybrid) with 40-mpg EPA fuel economy highway ratings, in keeping with its commitment to put more 40-mpg cars on the road than any other automaker in 2011. “It makes sense for all of us to be more transparent with sales data on high fuel-efficiency vehicles,” said John Krafcik, Hyundai Motor America’s president and CEO. “At Hyundai, 40-mpg isn’t a marketing charade. High-volume, high-value cars like our 2011 Elantra sedan, which gets 40-mpg across the board without extra cost fuel economy packages, demonstrate our commitment to leading the industry in fuel efficiency. We’d love to see other automakers report sales of their 40-mpg models.”
Beginning this month, Hyundai Motor America will also begin reporting monthly sales-weighted Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) results for the Hyundai brand to provide journalists, policy-makers and consumers with additional data to promote more meaningful dialogue on the feasibility of future fuel efficiency targets for the industry. Today, industry fuel economy reporting lags sales reporting as official CAFE data is calculated on a completed model year basis, with the most recent data published in November 2010, covering the 2009 model year.
For January 2011, Hyundai’s sales-weighted CAFE level was 34.7 miles per gallon, with a model year mix for the month of 86 percent 2011 and 14 percent 2010 model year vehicles. This is a significant increase from Hyundai’s most recent official CAFE level for the 2009 model year of 31.7 mpg. “In 2008, Hyundai had committed to achieve a CAFE level of at least 35 mpg by 2015. Since then, we’ve redoubled our efforts to introduce affordable fuel-efficient technology across our lineup, and now we can confidently project achieving a 35 mpg average several years early,” said John Krafcik, Hyundai Motor America’s president and CEO. “With 2025 CAFE targets being discussed in the 47-to-62 mpg range, Hyundai’s fuel economy and sales achievements across a wide range of vehicle segments may provide some confidence to policy-makers that this industry can achieve remarkable fuel efficiency gains without compromising vehicle sales, appeal, value, or customer satisfaction.”
