Hyundai Sales Down, but Genesis Should Help

According to the announcement from Hyundai, sales were down 1.9 percent from a year ago. Of course, like any company would, Hyundai tried to put a good spin on things by pointing out sales were up 37 percent over February. Also, for the second month in a row, the company blamed sales woes on bad weather.

But it's not bad weather hurting the company's sales figures. It's the fact that a new 2015 Genesis is being unveiled. (Pricing was released today.) And, the 2015 Hyundai Sonata officially gets introduced at the New York Auto Show in a couple weeks, which should mean it goes on sale this summer.

In other words, unless you're looking for value, you're not going to buy a Hyundai Sonata right now. You're going to wait to see what the new model is like and buy it this summer.

Sure, sales for the Sonata are actually up over last March at 19,248 compared to 18,013. There's no telling how much of that lift was caused by fleet sales. Hyundai didn't break down fleet vs. retail sales figures.

According to Hyundai, the big winner in its lineup, in terms of sales percent increase, would be the Santa Fe with sales gains of 36.7 percent, followed by the flagship Hyundai Equus up 13.8 percent and the Tucson at 13.6 percent.

Actually, take away a momentous drop in Elantra sales and Hyundai as a brand is ahead of last March. Elantra sales were down about 4600 year over year. That almost equals the drop in calendar year sales from 164,330 to 160,013.

But in the end it shouldn't make a huge difference. Hyundai is poised to have strong third and fourth quarters once the new Sonata rolls out bolstered by the new Genesis.