Hyundai sales ended the year hot in
North America, with an all-time company-best December contributing to a record
2014.
Hyundai Motor America said
Monday that it sold 64,507 vehicles last month and 725,718 overall last year —
both new highs for the Korean automaker. In fact, it set six monthly sales
records last year, including a streak of four straight months during the
summer.
Most of
those sales were Elantras and Sonatas, and the Montgomery production plant
rolled out nearly 400,000 of the company’s two most popular vehicles last year
to keep dealers stocked. The plant fell about a thousand cars short of its 2013
assembly record as the Sonata redesign slowed production a bit last spring.
“We
ended the year on a high note,” said Bob Pradzinski, HMA’s vice president of
national sales.
Yet Hyundai’s American sales
aren’t accelerating quite as fast as they were in previous years. While the
numbers have grown each of the past five years, the pace of growth has slowed
as competition ramped up and the company strained against its production
limits.
The
company announced in 2012 that it would put the brakes on its capacity growth
worldwide, shortly after adding a third shift in Montgomery and moving to
round-the-clock weekday production here.
In a
visit to the Montgomery plant in June, HMA President and CEO Dave Zuchowski
said it may be time to grow again to keep up with the industry.
“…with
what the industry is doing right now we will not be able to maintain market
share," Zuchowski said in June. "So we can continue to set sales
records, but we'll lose market share and we don't want to do that.
"We're
probably at a point now where over a longer period of time, in order to sustain
growth, you need to start having those (expansion) conversations and that
thought process. That's occurring as we speak.”
Hyundai Motor Group
Chairman Chung Mong-koo told employees in his New Year’s speech that the group
should cut costs, increase productivity and share components, while forecasting
the weakest growth in yearly Hyundai
and Kia car sales in more than a decade.
The
Montgomery plant operates 24 hours a day on weekdays, with three shifts rolling
out most of the cars HMA sells in North America. Last year, they often worked
on Saturday as well.
“For
the last five years it's really been done through greater operating efficiency
as we've gone to three shifts," Zuchowski said. "We've picked up
Saturdays. We've increased line speeds. We've done it all with terrific
quality.”
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing
Alabama spokesman Robert Burns said there are no Saturday shifts scheduled for
the Montgomery plant this month.
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