HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA REPORTS ITS BEST APRIL EVER AND SECOND-BEST ALL-TIME MONTH

HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA REPORTS ITS BEST APRIL EVER AND SECOND-BEST ALL-TIME MONTH

• Retail market share expected to hit a record 5.7 percent

• Elantra and Sonata each top 20,000 monthly sales – a company first

• Hyundai achieves best-ever 36.2 mpg corporate average fuel economy

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., 05/03/2011

 Hyundai Motor America today announced all-time record April sales of 61,754 units, up 40 percent compared with the same record-breaking period last year. For the year, total sales are up 31 percent, with retail volume rising 40 percent.  Sales to fleet accounts are down 45 percent for the year with fleet representing 13 percent of the total sales mix year-to-date and 11 percent for April.  Thirty-four percent of Hyundai vehicles sold in April achieved 40 MPG fuel economy ratings.

“April was another outstanding month for Hyundai,” said Dave Zuchowski, Hyundai Motor America’s executive vice president of national sales. “Our unwavering commitment as the industry leader in fuel efficiency with four vehicles achieving 40 MPG standard this year has helped overcome escalating fuel prices and drive our continued growth.

“Further, we believe our innovative Assurance Trade-In Value Guarantee program will take the uncertainty out of future resale values and bolster consumer confidence in our brand.”

April’s strong performance was led by the hot-selling Elantra that registered 22,100 units sold, up 129 percent from a year ago. Its Alabama sibling, Sonata, saw sales climb 17 percent over April last year resulting in a combined 71 percent of total Hyundai volume.  This marked the first time Hyundai sold more than 20,000 units in the same month of two different models.

Genesis’ sustained growth trajectory continued with a 17 percent sales increase over last year, representing the 22nd consecutive month of year-over-year sales increases for Hyundai’s first premium products. Hyundai’s flagship Equus continues its strong performance and has now exceeded 1,000 total sales since its December launch, continuing to out-perform its five percent retail share objective.

Hyundai continues its industry-leading approach to fuel efficiency data transparency, achieving an all-time record corporate average fuel economy of 36.2 MPG in April while selling 20,918 vehicles with 40 MPG fuel economy ratings.  “The 40-MPG Sonata Hybrid is now shipping in volume, and we’re seeing terrific demand for it,” said John Krafcik, Hyundai Motor America president and CEO.  “Combined with record-setting demand for the 40-MPG Elantra sedan, which is outselling all other 40-MPG compacts by a margin of six-to-one, we’ve got confidence our approach of delivering large volumes of high-value, ultra-high fuel-efficiency vehicles is the best long-term solution to hit our national CO2 and fuel economy objectives.”