Hyundai has just reported and released sales figures for the month of February. Sales compared to 2012 overall were up 2 percent for February and 2 percent for the year. In hard numbers this means that Hyundai moved 52,311 vehicles for February 2013, which is pretty decent for the Korean automaker.
Hyundai’s president and CEO John Krafcik attributes the increased sales to Hyundai’s great crop of Super Bowl commercials as well as a good set of Academy Award TV spots this year. “Our biggest-ever Super Bowl and Academy Awards presence drove great interest in the Hyundai brand.” Anyone remember the the Hyundai Santa-Fe team commercial? I do, since it was pretty funny.
Anyway, Hyundai’s brand new and redesigned 2013 Hyundai Santa-Fe and 3013 Hyundai Elantra saw big sales increases over February 2012. The 2013 Hyundai Santa-Fe had big 64 percent increase compared to last February totaling 6,339 sales. The Hyundai Elantra which was recognized as “Top Pick” by Consumer Report’s in the Budget Car segment early this week posted a 17 percent sales increase compared to February 2012. That means Hyundai was able to sale 16,219 Hyundai Elantra’s in February 2013, being Hyundai’s best selling car for February 2013. The Hyundai Sonata was not far behind with 16,007 Hyundai Sonata’s being sold.
Hyundai also emphasized that that their Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) saw an increase too recording 5,627 used car sales for February 2013. That means Hyundai’s CPO sales were up 9 percent in 2012. I guess people are taking to Hyundai’s more and that includes their used cars. I am sorry used cars is a no-no word, Certified Pre-Owned vehicles. Does it really make that much of a difference though?
It will be interesting to see how Hyundai fares in the next couple months going into the Spring and Summer. With a strong group of new models and getting the 2013 Hyundai Elantra receiving a “Top Pick” by Consumer Reports I wouldn’t be surprised if sales were going to get better for Korean automaker into 2013.
