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Hyundai, Kia Lead On July Sales

Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America and Irvine’s Kia Motors America Inc. again led local automakers with big gains in July sales as part of a larger industry rebound.

Hyundai, part of South Korea’s Hyundai Kia Automotive Group., saw a 19% gain from a year earlier to 54,106 vehicles sold in July.

For the 12 months through July, Hyundai, the largest automaker with operations here, sold 309,888 vehicles, up 24%.

The automaker’s new Sonata sedan is selling as fast as the company’s Alabama plant can produce it with 17,836 sold last month, up 24% from a year before.

The automaker also saw its Tucson sport utility vehicle sales increase 200% with 3,698 sold versus a year ago.

“Although consumer confidence has dipped for a second month in a row, Hyundai continues to buck this trend,” said Dave Zuckowski, vice president of national sales at Hyundai.

Sister company Kia saw an uptick in sales with 35,419 vehicles sold last month, up 20% from a year earlier.

For the 12 months through June, Kia sold 205,488 vehicles, up 16.3%.

Hyundai and Kia were the stars of the auto industry’s recent downturn, the worst since the 1970s. Each in its seventh consecutive month of growing sales.

The two brands have seen sales and market share gains in the past year as their affordable vehicles proved a good fit with the downturn.

Automakers across the board saw mixed results last month leading many to believe the industry’s recovery will not be as sharp as originally expected.

Troubled Toyota Motor Corp. was down 6.8% due to continued publicity surrounding its recalls. Honda Motor Co. was down 5.6%. Meanwhile Ford Motor Co. was up 5% and General Motors Co. was up 25%.

Initial July estimates for industrywide sales were 11.2 million to 11.4 million vehicles on an annualized basis.

Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations, part of Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp., saw a 8.9% gain to 20,732 in July vehicle sales.

For the 12 months through June, sales were up 14.3% to 136,451 autos.

Cypress-based Mitsubishi Motors North America, part of Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors Corp., was up 16.5% to 5,648 autos sold in July.

Brea-based American Suzuki Motor Corp. continued its slump with a 44% drop to July sales of 1,952 vehicles.

The automaker, part of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp., has been one of the hardest hit in the industry with sales through July down 48% to 13, 501 autos.

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