Hyundai sales top 60,000 again; market share slips
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LOS ANGELES – The Hyundai brand's U.S. sales exceeded 60,000 for the fourth consecutive month in June, a trend that Hyundai Motor America CEO John Krafcik expects to continue for the balance of the year.
Hyundai sold 63,813 vehicles last month for its best-ever June sales performance and fewer than 6,000 vehicles shy of its best month on record set in March.
Sales last month were up 8 percent from June 2011 -- below the typical increases of recent years.
Hyundai sold 356,669 vehicles in the first six-months of 2011, up 10 percent from the same period last year.
Krafcik said high demand should keep monthly sales above 60,000 units for the rest of the year. Such a pace would allow Hyundai to sell more than 700,000 vehicles in the United States this year.
"We'll still be cranking out 60,000-plus units every month," Krafick said in a recent interview.
But with industry sales up more than 22 percent in June and up 15 percent for the year, Hyundai lost market share last month and in the first half of 2012.
Hyundai's share declined from 5.1 percent for all of 2011 to 4.9 percent through June 2012.
Sales of the Elantra and Sonata, which accounted for 60 percent of Hyundai's U.S. sales through June, have been limited by capacity constraints.
Tight supplies caused sales of the Elantra compact to fall for the second-straight month. Elantra sales fell 12 percent fell to 17,655 units. Hyundai had 8,160 Elantras in dealer stocks at the end of June, according to a statement.
Hyundai will add a third shift at its assembly plant in Montgomery, Ala., in September that will boost Elantra and Sonata output by a combined 20,000 units by year end.
You can reach Ryan Beene at rbeene@crain.com. -- Follow Ryan on 
