While automakers drop like flies out of the sporty compact car segment, Hyundai is showing that building fun cars for affordable prices is still a winning combination. Especially if you offer those vehicles with both a manual transmission and an automatic.
Want proof? Here’s Exhibit A: Sales of the turbocharged Hyundai Elantra N sports sedan set records last month. The model jumped 141 percent as the Hyundai brand was up eight percent, and the Elantra model as a whole climbed 18 percent for the month, year over year.
Hyundai’s Affordable Sports Sedan Is Solid Value
There were likely celebrations all around at the automaker’s American headquarters in Fountain Valley, CA. That’s because the brand hit 17 million sales since arriving in the US in 1986. Hyundai said that it has six nameplates that have topped one million, including Sonata, Tucson, Santa Fe, Accent, and, if you can remember it, the Excel. The Elantra is the automaker’s number two seller in recent years behind only the Tucson, but remains the best-selling vehicle in US company history.
Hyundai was clearly pleased with sales of the 276-horsepower Elantra N and that significant increase. But not happy enough to say exactly how many it sold. Total Elantra sales were up 18 percent year over year, hitting 15,741 last month.
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At $34,350, the Elantra N remains a performance bargain and one of America’s cheapest performance sedans. For that price, it comes with an electronic suspension, electronic center differential, variable valve exhaust, special N Grin drive modes, summer performance tires, and many other go-fast parts. It also delivers heated seats. Plus, for an extra $1,500, you can get a dual-clutch transmission instead of the six-speed stick.
A basic Subaru WRX has less power and starts at $37,750. The Honda Civic Si starts at $30,250, but it has 76 fewer ponies on tap and doesn’t offer any automatic transmission. Volkswagen, meanwhile, wants $32,715 for 50 fewer horses in the Jetta GLI or about the same for still much less power in the auto-only GTI. With those competitors, it’s not hard to see the appeal of the Hyundai.
Tucson Remains Best-Seller, Ioniq 9 Beats Kia Almost 10:1
Other hot-sellers for Hyundai that probably drove a lot more into the company’s bottom line include the Tucson. That model was up 15 percent year over year to 19,905. Sales for the year so far are up 23 percent to 96,932. The Venue, Hyundai’s smallest model, also saw a massive gain. Sales were up 74 percent to 4,349 in May year over year. Hyundai’s first electric three-row crossover, the Ioniq 9, saw 302 sales in its first month on the market, as the Georgia-built SUV starts to arrive at dealers nationwide. This may be significantly down on its sister car, the Kia EV9, but that’s been on the market for far longer, so the Ioniq 9 will likely catch up in coming months.
Retail sales held steady this month, and that consistency reflects the strength of our lineup and the trust customers continue to place in the Hyundai brand. The delivery of our first IONIQ 9 marks a powerful step forward in Hyundai’s EV journey at our Georgia Metaplant. We’re not just meeting demand; we’re shaping the future of electrification in the U.S.
– Randy Parker, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor North America
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