automotive

Mood Down, Sales Up. Go Figure!

Hyundai

It's Election Day and people are anxious, and the national debt clock on 44th Street near Times Square in New York says every family in the country owes $115,000 to service the debt. But if October automotive sales numbers mean anything, things are looking up.

Hyundai Motor America posted its best October ever, with sales of 42,656 -- up 38% percent versus the month last year. Hyundai has reported total cumulative sales of 452,703, up 21% versus the same 10-month period in 2009. Hyundai says that through October it has exceeded total and retail volumes for the entire 2009 calendar year.

The company says Sonata outsold Altima, Fusion, and Malibu at retail. "As availability improves for Tucson and Santa Fe, coupled with the launch of turbo and hybrid versions of Sonata, we expect to continue to set sales records, elevate brand awareness, and drive market share growth for the remainder of the fourth quarter," said Dave Zuchowski, EVP of sales.

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Sibling Kia also broke records last month, as did Subaru and Audi. Kia sold 31,199 vehicles last month, a 38.7% increase over the same period last year. The company's U.S. year-to-date sales are up 14.6%.

Even smaller players that suffered huge sales declines in 2008 and 2009 are proving rumors of their demise are premature. Mitsubishi Motors North America sold 5,111 vehicles last month, a 32% improvement versus October 2009, and MMNA's fourth-highest monthly total in two years. October was also the company's largest year-over-year percentage increase in the U.S. for a single month since July 2002.

"It appears that our sales and marketing efforts are coming to fruition at just the right time," said MMNA president and CEO Shin Kurihara in a statement. "The coming months will see the first significant sales of our new Outlander Sport compact CUV, and interest in that vehicle should drive customers to our dealers and benefit our full product line."

Suzuki motors saw a 17% lift in sales -- the company's first year-over-year improvement in 27 months -- driven by the new Kizashi sedan, whose sales improved 22% over the prior month.

For Cherry Hill, N.J.-based Subaru, last October was the best ever for Subaru of America, and best ever for the company's Outback, Forester, and Legacy nameplates. The company posted a 25% improvement last month with year-to-date sales up 23%. Also, Subaru says the October year-to-date result puts the brand within a few hundred sales of a new annual record.

"Our 618 Subaru retailers throughout the country again did an outstanding job efficiently turning their inventory and generating record sales," said Timothy M. Colbeck, SVP of sales, Subaru of America, Inc., in a statement. "We had sales increases with our four core car lines. In addition, the launch of our new WRX and STI models has been a huge success -- collectively up 50% compared to last October."

Audi also posted its best October in company history, and the company says it is on pace to set an all time sales record this year. The automaker says October is the seventh record-breaking month of the year and three consecutive months of record-setting sales. The company sold 8,128 vehicles in the U.S. a 10.5% increase over the month last year, with year-to-date sales up 15% versus its prior year-to-date total of 66,876.

1 comment about "Mood Down, Sales Up. Go Figure! ".
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  1. Jonathan Gardner from Vibrant Media, November 3, 2010 at 10:02 a.m.

    We've seen that things have been looking up in auto, if online ad revenues are anything to judge by. The IAB released record numbers a couple weeks back. We're seeing auto-sector spend in contextual interactive advertising make huge gains. There's an article up today that complements this news with some info about online auto interactive: http://bit.ly/9QOYxO

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