South Korean automaker Hyundai says its December sales jumped 17% from a year ago, to 59,435.
CEO
of Hyundai's U.S. operations, John Krafcik, tweeted the company's
overall results hours before other automakers are scheduled to begin
announcing today their December and full-year 2012 sales.
Krafcik
said the car company's tally for all for 2012 was up 9%, to 703,007,
"paced by record-setting full-year Elantra & Sonata sales."
Hyundai will roll out details later today.
Though sales are healthy, Hyundai's had challenges last year:
- After
months of eye-popping sales jumps, growth tapered. Kracik says
Hyundai's global production capacity is spread thin and the U.S. won't
consistently see big year-over-year sales leaps in the future. Surely
hard to take after years of "no end in sight" growth.
- Hyundai
and corporate affiliate Kia were forced to trim mileage ratings for some
of their most-popular cars, such as the Hyundai Elantra Krafcik cites,
above. The companies said they made incorrect calculations as part of a
new mpg formula they created to handle a number of new models and new
drivetrains coming to market quickly.
- Hyundai's "halo" model --
one meant to create an image for the whole brand -- had to be recalled.
Veloster, a futuristic three-door model, had problems with its enormous
glass roof panel.
USA Today