Hyundai Motor America Reports Best-Ever May Sales.

Hyundai Motor America, the most fuel efficient automaker in the U.S., today announced an all-time May sales record of 67,019 units, up more than 13 percent over last year’s all-time May record, and the second best sales month in company history.

“The industry experienced choppier waters than anticipated in May,” said Dave Zuchowski, executive vice president of sales. “While industry demand and traffic remained strong, consumer confidence was clearly conflicted with a recovering market being hedged against the inherent uncertainties of a looming presidential election and some disappointing housing and unemployment news. Amidst this economic backdrop and our own very low inventories, we felt great about setting yet another monthly volume record and are really well positioned for what we fully expect to be a robust summer sales period.”

Hyundai is operating with a 32-day supply of inventory, believed to be the leanest among all competitive brands and running at about half of current industry levels. The company’s supply of the highly fuel-efficient Accent, Elantra, and Veloster models are running at extremely low levels of availability. “Having demand exceed supply is an enviable position to be in but it forces us to be exceptionally efficient in our production planning, inventory management, and sales velocity,” added Zuchowski.

The all-new Azera, a recent recipient of IIHS’ Top Safety Pick, the seventh Hyundai model to hold this recognition, continued its strong launch sales pace with a 558 percent increase over last May, while the Veloster saw sales gains of almost 14 percent over last month. Hyundai’s family of premium products, Genesis and Equus, continue to deliver outstanding sales results with another all-time record volume month, representing a year-over-year sales increase of about 40 percent. Business to fleet accounts was less than a seven percent mix, among the lowest levels in the industry. 

SALES-WEIGHTED FUEL ECONOMY 

In keeping with its industry-leading fuel efficiency status, Hyundai achieved a corporate average fuel economy level of 37.0 MPG (28.5 MPG label value) in May, while selling 25,614 vehicles (38 percent of total sales) with 40 MPG window label highway fuel economy ratings.

“Demand for Hyundai vehicles in May remained at record levels, and so once again our total sales this month were a reflection of low inventories at Hyundai dealerships rather than market demand,” said John Krafcik, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America. “We’ve continued to keep our incentive spending and fleet mix low reflecting this situation, while at the same time watching carefully the mixed economic signals we’re seeing, especially continued stagnation in the housing market, today’s disappointing news on unemployment, and significant incentive spending increases from our key competitors.”