Hyundai on Friday reported the best
April sales in company
history, its fifth consecutive month of setting a new monthly sales record.
It sold
just over 68,000 vehicles last month, a three percent increase over last April.
“For
six years in a row we’ve set April sales records going into the
spring selling season,” said Bob Pradzinski, HMA’s vice president of
national sales.
The
Montgomery assembly plant celebrates its tenth anniversary later this month,
and it continues to play a key role in the company’s growing sales figures. The
plant makes Sonata and Elantra sedans, and customers snapped up nearly 40,000
of those two models last month.
In
fact, more people bought Elantras in April than any other month in history.
That’s
despite the fact that SUV sales are driving
profits across the rest of the industry. General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Fiat
Chrysler and Nissan all reported U.S. sales gains,
some reporting their best April in years.
Buyers,
buoyed by lower gasoline prices, flocked to crossover SUVS that handle like cars
and sit up higher. The gains came at the expense of many small and midsize
cars.
“The
demand for crossover SUVs
is off the charts,” said Bill Fay, a Toyota group vice president.
Hyundai has denied reports
that it plans to build a second assembly plant in the Montgomery area to build
SUVs. But the company has said it must expand to keep pace with industry growth
and that it’s considering the River Region among other sites.
HMA President and CEO Dave
Zuchowski said there are opportunities for growth in the crossover market.
“We
believe the market's going to keep growing the way it has grown, particularly
in the short-term with gas as low as it is," Zuchowski said in March.
"The natural demand for trucks is exacerbated because (consumers) don't
care as much about fuel economy.”
"We're
dealing with that. We've got a good plan for it."
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