Orange County automakers reported mixed sales in October with Kia Motors America posting its first decline in months and Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. logging a gain, its second up month in the past three.
Cypress-based Mitsubishi Motors, part of Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors Corp., posted a 1% sales increase in October from a year ago.
Mitsubishi, which has been working to reverse a slump, sold 9,292 vehicles in the month. The automaker’s September sales were off 2%, while August’s were up 2%.
New vehicles are leading, said David Schembri, Mitsubishi’s executive vice president of sales and marketing. He also said the new Raider truck, which debuted in October, got off to a good start.
Kia, meanwhile, saw slowing sales growth go negative last month with a 10.2% decline in October sales to 20,631 vehicles.
Earlier this year, Kia’s sales were growing 5% to 10% monthly but slowed to 2% in September.
Last month, Kia, part of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co., replaced former U.S. chief Peter Butterfield with Len Hunt, who hailed from Volkswagen AG.
Mazda North American Operations, an Irvine-based unit of Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp., sold 19,505 autos in October, up 8% from a year earlier.
Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America Inc., another unit of Seoul-based Hyundai Motor, saw sales rise 7.6% to 29,413 for the month.
Volvo Cars of North America LLC, the largest unit of Ford Motor Co.’s Irvine-based Premier Automotive Group led the list of decliners. Its October sales dropped 25.2% to 8,706 vehicles.
Brea-based American Suzuki Motor Corp., the U.S. arm of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp., said its October sales were down 1% to 6,246 autos in the month.
