Hyundai reports best-ever U.S. sales for March, Q1

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
  -----              ------    ------  -------   ------