The industry’s August vehicle sales weren’t the greatest, but OC’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor America Inc. is still feeling pretty good.
That’s the word from Vice President of National Sales Randy Parker who, in a call with the Business Journal the day the Fountain Valley-based automaker’s August numbers came out, said Hyundai didn’t fare as badly as others in the market and, thus, continues to nab share.
To recap, Hyundai sold 58,361 vehicles last month. That’s down 8% from a year earlier. Retail sales fell 2%, while fleet sales declined 63%.
The executive said he doesn’t see the promotional environment at Hyundai dealers getting any more aggressive in the remaining months of 2020.
“We continue to monitor and track the industry trends relative to incentives. I think they’re going to be pretty constant and consistent for the remainder of the year. I don’t anticipate OEMs getting too crazy simply because the inventory levels of the industry are still very, very low,” Parker said.
Although SUVs and crossovers have been popular among buyers, Hyundai is banking on a diverse vehicle lineup of SUVs, crossovers, sedans and compacts to push through. Even as sales of the Palisade SUV continue to tick up, Parker reiterated Hyundai is “still committed to remaining in the passenger car segment.”
He lauded the automaker’s dealer network in continuing to work through the pandemic and said the system’s continued to improve and strengthen over time.
And while expressing plenty of optimism in Hyundai’s product lineup and dealer network, he tempered that with the reality of external factors all of business is watching and waiting to see play out.
“Even though we see signs of sales recovering, there are still some wild cards out there we’ve got to be concerned about,” Parker said, citing the presidential election and automotive incentives.
