Hyundai Motor America's total sales rose 5.1 percent mostly on 5,000-plus units of incremental volume from the large Palisade crossover and an increase for the compact Tucson. Other than the lower-volume Ioniq, deliveries of the rest of the brand's nameplates dipped.
However, Hyundai reported its retail sales rose 22 percent while it cut back fleet sales by 68 percent, which accounted for 6 percent of its total deliveries for the month.
Kia's sales rose 8 percent to a January record of 40,355. The Telluride large crossover added 4,919 sales to the brand's tally, and the Sportage compact crossover, Forte compact car and Optima had sales increases. The new Seltos crossover is ramping up, with 94 sales in January.
Sales at the Genesis luxury brand rose 14 percent as deliveries of the G70 and G90 increased. Dealers are awaiting the GV80 crossover's arrival this summer to bolster volumes.
Notable nameplates: Tucson, up 8.4%; Ioniq, up 34%; Elantra, down 21%; Kona, down 26%; Santa Fe, down 8.7%; Kia Sportage, up 13%; Optima, up 5.5%; Forte, up 4.9%; Rio, up 1.2%; Soul, down 22%; Sorento, down 19%; Niro, down 8%; Genesis G70, up 20%; G80, down 3.6%; G90, up 46%
Incentives: For Hyundai, $2,745 per vehicle, down 4.6% from a year earlier. For Kia, $3,543 per vehicle, up 4.5%.
Average transaction price: For Hyundai, $26,147, up 10.8% from a year earlier. For Kia, $24,441, up 7.7%.
Quote: "We started off 2020 how we finished 2019, with growing retail sales, reducing rental fleet sales and increasing market share," said Randy Parker, vice president of national sales at Hyundai Motor America.
Did you know? The Hyundai brand's retail mix of crossovers has exceeded 60% for seven consecutive months.
