LOS ANGELES -- A sharp decline in fleet sales continued to push combined Hyundai-Kia sales down 15 percent to 107,633 units in August.
The two brands are each down so far this year, falling a combined 11 percent to 860,195.
Fleet losses were particularly acute at the Hyundai division, which includes the Genesis luxury brand. Sales fell 25 percent to 54,310. Genesis sales alone rose 20 percent to 1,803.
Models traditionally favored by fleet operations took a particular hit in August. Sales of the subcompact Accent collapsed 68 percent to 2,632, those of the top-selling compact Elantra tumbled 27 percent to 15,127 and those of the midsize Sonata, despite getting a thorough refresh for the 2018 model year, dropped 27 percent to 10,866.
Hyundai's Tucson compact crossover continued to be the sole bright spot in the brand's portfolio, jumping 28 percent on the month to 9,757.
Kia's August sales dropped 1.7 percent to 53,323.
Its Forte compact car had the best month, jumping 29 percent to 10,693 .
Several models reversed their downward trend in August. The Soul was up again after months of losses; it sold 14,151 units in August, a 15 percent gain. Yet the model has had a tough year, dropping 16 percent through August to 80,228.
The Sorento SUV rose 4.7 percent to 8,934 in August; that model is still down 11 percent on the year, at 68,924.
Meanwhile, the Optima dropped 25 percent to 7,072 units and the Sportage compact crossover slid 13 percent to 6,014.
