Key crossovers spur Kia, help Hyundai

When they redesigned the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage in 2015, corporate siblings Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. opted to send more of the Korean-built crossovers to the U.S. to seize on Americans’ hankering for trucks.That decision paid off in February as Tucson sales surged 90 percent to 7,336 and Sportage sales spiked 72 percent to 5,860. Hyundai Motor Group sales rose 6.4 percent overall to 102,746 amid weak demand for the small cars in which it long specialized.“We expect our CUV lineup to lead the charge as we close out the first quarter,” Derrick Hatami, vice president of national sales at Hyundai Motor America, said in a statement today.Kia delivered most of the gains for Hyundai Motor Group. Its sales rose 13 percent to 49,737 in February for a 10th straight monthly sales record while Hyundai sales rose just 1 percent to 53,009.February was a seesaw of a month on other fronts. Sales of the Hyundai Elantra compact car dipped 24 percent to 11,973 during a changeover to a 2017 model, but sales of the Sonata midsize sedan rose 25 percent to 17,470.The opposite happened at Kia. Sales of the compact Forte spiked 48 percent to 8,187 ahead of a 2017 redesign, making up for the Optima midsize sedan’s 17 percent fall.“February was a huge month for Kia,” said Michael Sprague, COO at Kia Motors America, as “positive economic indicators, low gas prices and mild weather ... drove consumers into Kia showrooms at a record pace.”

Key crossovers spur Kia, help Hyundai

Featured Stories