Hyundai Motor's US April Sales Break Records on Demand for Fuel Efficent Cars

A visitor looks at Hyundai Motor's luxury sedan Equus displayed at a lobby at the company headquarters in Seoul. Hyundai enjoyed its best April U.S. sales ever last month. REUTERS

Hyundai Motor Company (KS: 005380) enjoyed its second-best U.S. month in the company's history during April, despite three fewer selling days than in 2011, rising 1 percent on high demand for fuel efficient cars.

Never has a relatively flat sales month felt quite so good, Dave Zuchowski, Hyundai Motor America executive vice president of national sales said Tuesday, We definitely felt some pullback from an overheated March sales pace but really picked up some momentum at the tail end of the month and finished with a flurry to set another all-time volume record.

March was the company's highest-selling month ever, and continued strong sales in April bode well for the Korean automaker. April 2011 was Hyundai's previous best April and the second best month ever for the company. Hyundai sales gained 1 percent in April, despite three fewer selling-days than the year before, and the company's daily sales rate rose 12 percent as a result. Hyundai sold 62,264 cars in April.

While sales of the company's flagship Sonata and Elantra cars were down slightly, the losses were more than made up for by the Azera, Veloster, Genesis and Accent. Elantra sales dropped 24 percent and Sonata sales fell almost 6 percent. However, Azera sales rose 399 percent, Genesis sales increased by a third, and Accent sales rose 40 percent.

Hyundai's sportier, rear-wheel drive models, the Genesis and Equus, both increased sales by a combined 36 percent.

A big selling point for Hyundai was the over-all high gas mileage of its fleet, an average of 37.1 mpg, although April's sales may have been somewhat hampered by the short supply of its models that achieve better than 40 mpg, which made up 38 percent of total sales for the company.

April was a great month for us, but low availability of our 40-mpg Accent, Veloster and Elantra ... definitely impacted our final sales result, John Krafcik, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America said.

Hyundai is adding a third shift at a plant in Alamba that produces the Elantra and Sonata to meet increased demand.