Hyundai Motor Co. and its corporate cousin Kia Motors Corp. posted increased sales of their sport-utility vehicle (SUVs) in the United States last month, though overall number of vehicles sold have not fully recovered, data showed Friday. (Image: Hyundai Motor)
SEOUL, March 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Hyundai Motor Co. and its corporate cousin Kia Motors Corp. posted increased sales of their sport-utility vehicle (SUVs) in the United States last month, though overall number of vehicles sold have not fully recovered, data showed Friday.
In February, Hyundai Motor’s combined SUV sales jumped 19 percent to 18,111 vehicles from 15,189 units a year earlier. SUV sales made up 39 percent of the total 46,095 vehicles sold in the key North American market last month, Hyundai Motor America said in a statement.
The total is comprised of 44,732 cars under the Hyundai marque and 1,363 cars belonging to the carmaker’s luxury sub-brand Genesis, it said.
“Through the first two months of 2018 our SUVs continue to deliver and our car-to-SUV mix creeps closer to the industry with 39 percent of our sales coming from SUVs,” said John Angevine, director of national sales at Hyundai Motor America.
He expected Hyundai to take advantage of the SUV craze in the U.S. as the Kona subcompact SUV enters more dealerships. Hyundai SUVs available in the U.S. include the Santa Fe and the Tucson.
In the January-February period, however, Hyundai sold a total of 87,337 units, down 12 percent from 99,527 the previous year, the statement said.
Kia Motors saw its SUV sales increase 1.06 percent to 14,338 units in the U.S. last month from 14,187 a year ago, Kia Motors America said in a statement.
But Kia’s overall February sales fell to 40,672 autos from 42,673 a year earlier, with its sales in the January-February period down to 76,300 from 78,299, the statement said.
“Together, sales of the Sportage and Sorento CUVs were up 8.5-percent over February 2017, and there are a host of new and refreshed products headed to showrooms this calendar year that will continue driving traffic and attracting new customers,” Vice President Bill Peffer, in charge of sales operations at Kia Motors America, said in the statement.
(Yonhap)
