U.S. sales at Hyundai and Kia rose for the third straight month in October behind higher demand for electrified vehicles and healthy retail volume as the auto industry’s supply crunch slowly eases.
Volume advanced 7 percent at Hyundai, and 12 percent to 58,276 — an October record — at Kia, the companies said Tuesday.
Retail deliveries increased 11 percent to 58,315 in October, Hyundai said. The company has prioritized more profitable retail business amid tight inventories; fleet shipments total just 0.4 percent of sales year to date.
“Demand is still there and our lineup of EV vehicles contributed to record sales this month,” Randy Parker, CEO of Hyundai Motor America, said in a statement.
Hyundai said it ended October with 31,529 cars and light trucks in inventory, up from 24,919 at the close of September and 19,894 at the end of October 2021.
At Kia, EV sales rose 101 percent. And four models posted double-digit sales increases: Seltos, up 37 percent; Forte, up 19 percent; Sorento, up 8 percent, and Niro, up 16 percent.
Genesis posted an 18 percent decline in October volume, snapping a streak of 22 consecitive increases.
Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Subaru and Mazda will release October sales later Tuesday, followed by results for the month from Ford Motor Co. and Volvo on Wednesday. The rest of the industry reports U.S. sales on a quarterly basis.
U.S. light-vehicle deliveries are expected to rise last month from October 2021 levels as inventory slowly improves and demand remains steady, even amid rising interest rates, gasoline prices and new-vehicle MSRP’s that are putting extra pressure on affordability.
The market has declined 13 percent through September, and is on pace to drop for the year, after rising 3.3 percent in 2021 following a sharp decline in 2020 volume because of the COVID pandemic.
With new-vehicle inventory improving modestly in October, J.D Power and LMC Automotive said month-end retail units were on track to exceed one million units for the first time since May 2021. The rebound in stockpiles and higher borrowing costs for consumers should slow the industry’s rapid price increases, analysts say. Falling used-vehicle prices have become another headwind for the new-vehicle market, where some consumers have been priced out.
“We expect to see some deterioration in per unit pricing and profitability in the coming months,” said Thomas King, president of J.D. Power’s data and analytics division. “However, nearly 50 percent of new vehicles are still being sold above MSRP, the industry is recalibrating to a more durable pricing environment.”
U.S. consumers, “hindered by higher interest rate settings and lower levels of job growth than previously anticipated,” are expected to retrench in coming months, thereby becoming a major input factor to auto demand levels over the next 12-18 months, S&P Global Mobility said late last month.
