Luxury sedans post record sales of 5,232 units in May

Hyundai Motor has set a new milestone in the U.S. car market, with its premium sedan deliveries surpassing the 5,000 units for the first time in May, a company official said.

Hyundai’s Genesis, Grandeur and Equus models posted record sales of 5,232 units last month in the U.S., doubling the 2,600 vehicles sold in January, according to the Korean auto giant.

Hyundai, which has gained a reputation for building inexpensive small cars, has recently been more aggressive in marketing upscale models to the highly competitive U.S. market.

The carmaker continued its solid gains in the U.S. last month as deliveries jumped 13.2 percent to 67,019 vehicles from a year ago. Of them, sales of luxury sedans made up 7.8 percent, up from 5.3 percent during the same period in 2011.

Its flagship luxury sedan Genesis was the top seller at 2,309 units, followed by the Genesis Coupe with 1,519 deliveries. Grandeur and Equus brands also demonstrated steady growth, selling 1,053 and 351 vehicles, respectively.

“The sales surge is the result of the company’s recent strategy of targeting the more high-end market there based on its reputation for reliability and design,” a Hyundai official told The Korea Herald, declining to be named.

“The achievement is especially meaningful as it came when the price gap with European or Japanese luxury cars has been quickly narrowing, as our local dealers adopt low-incentive policies there.”

The officials added that such an approach is also in contradiction to those of Japanese rivals which are seeing profits declining due to increased incentives, such as insurance rate cuts or other discounting services, offered to customers.

In May, Hyundai also presented its renewed confidence in the U.S. market as it expressed willingness to pay the increased price for advertising during next year’s Super Bowl.

The announcement came after Detroit-based General Motors gave up putting its ads for next year’s game citing a steep price hike demanded by CBS, the network broadcasting the event.

Hyundai also launched its first worldwide brand campaign called “Live Brilliant” recently with one single communication applied to all major markets to reinforce the company’s “Modern Premium” values among customers.

“With the success of luxury vehicles in the U.S., Hyundai has completed the best line-ups across all size segments. And the sales boost is expected to continue in the future,” said the official.

By Lee Ji-yoon and Chung Joo-won

(jylee@heraldcorp.com) (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)

<관련 한글 기사>

[단독]한국의 고급차, 미국서 인기폭발! 그 비결은?

현대자동차가 지난 5월 미국 대형차 시장에서 역대 최고 판매량인 5천232대를 달성했다고 수요일 코리아헤럴드에 밝혔다.

에쿠스, 제네시스(제네시스 쿠페 포함), 그랜저 등의 고급차종의 판매가 5천대를 돌파한 것은 이번이 처음이고 이는 지난 1월 2천600대에 비해 두배가량 증가한 수치다.

현대차 관계자는 브랜드이미지 고급화전략이 북미시장에서 성공적으로 안착해가고 있다며 향후 중소형라인에서뿐 아니라 대형차 부문에서의 선전을 전망했다.

이는 또한 최근 일본 업체들이 부진을 만회하고자 인센티브를 크게 늘려 수익성 하락을 보이고 있는 것과 크게 대비되는 전략이라 업계의 주목을 받고 있다.

(코리아헤럴드 이지윤, 정주원 기자)