Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America Inc. and Kia Motors America Inc. of Irvine saw strong sales in September as many automakers saw business slip after the government-run “cash for clunkers” program proved to be short lived.
Hyundai, part of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co., saw a 27% gain in vehicle sales last month from a year earlier.
Hyundai, the largest automaker with operations here, sold 31,511 vehicles last month compared to the 24,765 vehicles sold the same time a year earlier.
The automaker is one of the few in the industry to see sales year to date up from last year. It reported it has sold 342,217 vehicles sold year-to-date compared to the 337,664 vehicles sold last year.
“While consumer demand following the cash for clunkers program softened during the month of September, we are encouraged with our continued growth,” said David Zuchowski, vice president of sales at Hyundai in a release.
Kia, also part of South Korea’s Hyundai, saw sales soar in September.
The automaker was up 24% from a year earlier with 21,623 vehicles sold last month.
Kia beat last year’s numbers with by nearly 5% with 238,570 vehicles sold year-to-date compared to 228,088 vehicles a year earlier.
Overall, automakers saw a 6% decline in September sales from a year earlier. That’s better than the 30% to 40% yearly declines they had seen before cash for clunkers.
Automakers attributed the September decline to the overall weak economy and the after-effects of the clunkers program that ended Aug. 24.
The program allowed consumers to trade in old vehicles for newer, more fuel efficient ones.
Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations saw sales decline after a record August.
The automaker saw September sales decline 12% from a year earlier to 14,234 vehicles.
Cypress-based Mitsubishi Motors North America, part of Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors Corp., was down 36% with 4,712 vehicles sold last month.
Brea-based American Suzuki Motor Corp. said its September sales declined 54% to 1,861 vehicles from 4,083 vehicles a year earlier.
