Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America Inc. and sister company Kia Motor America Inc. of Irvine fared better than most automakers again in February.
Hyundai, part of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co., saw a slight dip in sales last month versus a year earlier, down 1%.
Kia, also part of Seoul-based Hyundai, was flat from a year earlier.
Hyundai Motor America, the largest automaker with operations here, sold 30,621 vehicles last month.
The automaker reversed months of declining sales in January with a 14% gain. Kia also did beat the odds with a 3% gain in January sales.
Hyundai saw more showroom visitors after its Super Bowl and Academy Awards commercials last month, the company said.
The automaker has been relatively aggressive in marketing during the auto industry’s prolonged slump.
Hyundai rolled out an incentive plan in late December that allows auto buyers to break contracts and return vehicles if they lost their jobs or income, which seems to have helped sales.
Kia Motor America sold 22,073 vehicles in February compared to 21,988 vehicles a year earlier.
Overall U.S. auto sales in February stayed at quarter-century lows for the fifth straight month with industry leaders Ford Motor Co. down 49% and Toyota Motor Corp. down 40%.
Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations saw sales decline 29% to 16,401 vehicles sold in February.
Mazda, part of Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp., recently laid off about 100 workers, with a large percentage from its Irvine headquarters, despite beating industry numbers.
Cypress-based Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. was down 51% from a year earlier with 9,105 vehicles sold last month.
Mitsubishi, part of Japan’s Mitsubishi Motor Corp., saw a new chief executive, Shinichi Kurihara, take over at the beginning of the year.
Brea-based American Suzuki Motor Corp. said its January sales declined 60% to 3,495 vehicles from 8,800 vehicles last year.
The automaker, part of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp. has been hit especially hard by the industrywide auto slump.