South Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia posted sales gains in February with strong demand for new electrified vehicles, while Toyota saw its sales decline by double digits as inventory constraints intensified on the heels of protests at the U.S.-Canadian border.
Hyundai Motor America reported its best February retail sales ever, increasing 19% year over year. Hyundai eco-friendly vehicle retail sales grew 278% while SUV retail sales were up 32%, representing 77% of retail volume. Tucson, Palisade and Venue also set new February retail records. Hyundai also did not have any fleet sales for the second month in a row, company officials said.
The South Korean automaker reported overall February sales of 52,424 units, an 8% increase compared with February 2021 thanks to strong sales of the aforementioned Tucson, Palisade and Venue.
“Our recent marketing efforts with Tucson and Ioniq 5 have worked well to generate awareness in competitive segments,” said Randy Parker, senior vice president, national sales, Hyundai Motor America. “Shoppers are recognizing our award-winning SUV line-up and we intend to keep the momentum and market share gains going.”
Kia posts gain
Kia America today said February sales increased 2.3% compared with February 2021.
Kia’s EV models had their best-ever monthly sales performance, shattering the previous record set in September 2021 by 181 percent. In addition, sales of the Niro line of electrified crossovers saw a 40% increase over the model line’s best-ever February sales total set in 2017.
“Kia continues to outpace the industry and ‘charge ahead’ with the shift toward electrified vehicles as sales of our range of electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid models continued to break records and now make up 13% of our sales,” said Eric Watson, vice president, sales operations, Kia America.
“With first-month sales of the all-electric Kia EV6 exceeding 2,100 units we are confident that even more consumers considering their own shift to electrified vehicles will now consider Kia,” Watson said.
Toyota sales drop due to constraints
Toyota, which went into February with low inventories on dealer lots, saw inventory problems grow during the month as the automaker was forced to cut production at its truck assembly plant in San Antonio, Texas due to a shortage of semiconductors at the start of the month.
Near the end of month, shipments of key Toyota and Lexus vehicles were cut off for the better part of a week due to a protest that close key bridges between the U.S and Canada.
Overall, Toyota Motor North America reported February 2022 U.S. sales of 162,587 vehicles, down 11.2% on a volume basis. Toyota Division sales for the month totaled 142,356 vehicles, down 11.9% Lexus Division sales for the month totaled 20,231 vehicles, down 5.6 percent.
TMNA Electrified Powered Vehicle sales totaled 41,002 vehicles, down 1.7 percent. February EPV sales represent 25.2% of total TMNA sales compare to 22.8% in February 2021.