Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America and Irvine’s Kia Motors America Inc. again led local automakers with big gains in June sales as part of a larger industry rebound.
Hyundai, part of South Korea’s Hyundai Kia Automotive Group., saw a 35% gain from a year earlier to 51,205 vehicles sold in June.
For the 12 months through June, Hyundai, the largest automaker with operations here, sold 255,782 vehicles, up 19%.
The automaker’s new Sonata is selling as fast as the company’s Alabama plant can produce them with 17,771 sold last month, up 49% from a year before.
Sister company Kia sold 31,906 vehicles last month, up 12.8% from a year earlier.
For the 12 months through June, Kia sold 170,069 vehicles, up 15.4%.
Hyundai and Kia have been stars of the auto industry’s recent downturn, the worst since the 1970s.
The two brands have seen sales and market share gains in the past year as their affordable vehicles have proved a good fit with the downturn.
Automakers across the board saw moderate gains last month leading many to believe the recovery will not be as sharp as originally expected.
Troubled Toyota Motor Corp. was up 6.8% thanks to continued incentives. Ford Motor Co. was up 15%. General Motors Co. was up 11%. Honda Motor Co. was up 6.2%.
Initial June estimates for industrywide sales were 11.2 million to 11.4 million vehicles on an annualized basis.
That marks a retreat from 11.6 million in May.
Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations, part of Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp., saw a more sizable 32.8% gain to 18,238 in June vehicle sales.
For the 12 months through June, sales were up 15.3% to 115,719 autos.
Cypress-based Mitsubishi Motors North America, part of Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors Corp., was down 3.8% to 4,198 autos sold in June.
Brea-based American Suzuki Motor Corp. continued its slump with a 5% drop to June sales of 2,035 vehicles.
The automaker, part of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp., has been one of the hardest hit in the industry with sales through June down 48% to 11,549 autos.
