Hyundai Elantra Sales Sink 25% to Date in 2016

For the month of June, Hyundai Motor sold 22,414 units of the the compact Elantra in the United States, bringing total sales for the first six months of 2016 to 96,306 units. That’s a decline of 25.2% compared with sales in the first six months of 2015, even though sales were up 1.1% month over month.

The new Elantra hit dealer showrooms just a few weeks after the 2016 Honda Civic was named the North American Car of the Year. That may have been the primary reason that sales fell below 10,000 units for the month, the lowest January total since 2011.

Sales totals for February, March and April also settled at five-year lows. By the end of April, Elantra sales were down 34% year over year. Elantra sales rose by nearly 10,000 units month over month in May and flattened out in June as the company boosted promotions on the car. The 2016 Civic has outsold the 2017 Elantra by about two to one in the first half of this year.

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The base model Elantra SE with a six-speed manual transmission and a two-liter four-cylinder engine carries a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $17,985 including a destination charge of $835. That’s $100 below the base price for a 2016 model, and nearly $1,500 less than the 2016 Civic. The fuel economy ratings are 26 miles per gallon (mpg) in city driving, 36 in highway driving and 29 mpg combined. These numbers, too, trail the Civic.

The company just introduced an Elantra Eco model with an MSRP of $21,485 with a 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine with a seven-speed automatic transmission. The Eco does not yet have fuel economy rating from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, but Hyundai has estimated combined 35 mpg. Following 2012 run-in with the EPA over incorrect mileage ratings on some of its cars, it’s a pretty safe bet that the final numbers will be really close to that.

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