The coronavirus emergency provoked a sharp drop in March sales for Hyundai, Kia and luxury brand Genesis, but there were some surprising bright spots for the first quarter from new crossover models.
Combined, the Hyundai Motor Group brands posted a 31 percent drop in sales last month, with every model posting losses except for new crossovers at Hyundai and Kia that were either not available last year or had just launched. For the quarter, the Korean group was down 5.4 percent.
In fact, strong sales of Kia's three-row Telluride, along with the new Seltos subcompact crossover, drove the brand to a 1 percent sales gain in the first three months of the year compared with the year-ago period. Hyundai was down 11 percent for the quarter and Genesis was down 5.9 percent.
Total volume for the quarter was 130,875 units at Hyundai and 137,945 at Kia. Genesis, which had been growing rapidly on increasing availability of its G70 compact sedan, sold 3,955 units in the first three months of the year, about half of which were the G70.
Brands: Hyundai, down 43%; Kia, down 19%; Genesis, down 33%
Notable nameplates: Hyundai Elantra, down 53%; Tucson, down 49%; Palisade, 3,934 units sold of the new model; Kia Soul, down 46%; Sorento, down 40%; Telluride, up 1.4%; Seltos, 2,160 units sold of the new model; Genesis G70, down 37%; G80, down 40%.
Incentives: Hyundai, $2,449 per vehicle, down 2.1% from a year earlier; Kia, $3,745, up 7.9% from a year earlier, ALG says.
Average transaction price: Hyundai, $25,917, up 12% from a year earlier; Kia, $25,257, up 4% from a year earlier, according to ALG.
Quote: "Our thoughts and prayers are with those directly and indirectly affected by this terrible virus and we hope that significant containment is achieved over the coming weeks," said Bill Peffer, vice president, sales operations, Kia Motors America. "To show both our customers and our dealer partners that we're in this together, we implemented Kia's Accelerate the Good program, which will help new and existing customers impacted by the uncertainty created by the COVID-19 outbreak with payment deferral programs that will continue until further notice."
Did you know? Kia posted rare volume wins over corporate sibling Hyundai for the month of March and for the quarter. Part of the numbers battle came down to all-new crossovers vying for share. Hyundai's Palisade, which shares a platform with the Telluride, slightly outsold its Kia rival in the quarter. But the new Kia Seltos added more than 5,000 units compared to 3,000 for Hyundai's new Venue subcompact crossover. Kia's entry-level Rio sedan beat Hyundai's Accent by 2,000 units in the quarter, and Kia's midsize Optima sedan easily outsold Hyundai's Sonata.
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