August's Sales Winners: Hyundai And Subaru
Published: September 1st, 2009
Share
From the “Again. Still.” files, comes word that Hyundai and Subaru are once again the sales kings in terms of month-on-month improvement. Hyundai‘s numbers jumped 47 percent compared to last August, on C4C-fueled increases in Accent, Elantra and Santa Fe sales. Even Genesis sales about doubled. Hyundai’s total sales volume topped 60k units, an all-time record for the Korean brand. Subaru‘s sales were up over 50 percent, led by the Forester’s 76 percent gain. Only the Tribeca failed to improve on last August’s sales, falling 8 percent.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
Comments
Join the conversation
If being able to safely drive a RWD car in the snow makes me a legend...then so be it. Sure, you CAN drive a powerful RWD car in snow, Well...then we are in agreement. I originally asserted that AWD was un-necessary...and you just confirmed that...which is a switch from what you posted earlier: God may like rear drive cars, but here in Denver, He has a bad habit of tossing them into ditches in five inches of snow. Partially, but I don’t care WHAT tires you put on a powerful, RWD car - it’s going to be borderline unusable from November to March here in Colorado. but if AWD makes that car work better, why be a snot about it? How does it make it work better? -Does the car stop sooner? No...in fact it will stop later because the AWD system will hide how slippery the road really is, thus the driver will drive faster. Does AWD help you turn better? No... So...your $2,000 AWD system is only good at helping you start off... However, your $500 set of snow tires will get you going just like AWD...AND they will help you turn and STOP. Add to that the fuel penalty you get from AWD, the eventual repair costs (we are talking about Ford here), and it is a complete waste. AWD is a disguise for poor driving skills. People drove RWD cars for MANY years...even before the vast expansion of that limp-wristed FWD system we see so much today.
In 98 I purchased a subaru legacy wagon from a subaru/audi dealer, a year later they were no longer selling subarus. Their subaru mechanic went out on his own, the dealer was kind enough to give him the subaru customer list and he sent mailings out to let all the subie owners in the area know he was out there. I have gotten to know this guy quite well now and he had a vey interesting story about why the dealer dropped subaru. Apparently they were the biggest volume audi dealer in the state and when the new A4 was out someone in Audi USA HQ noted they weren't increasing their sales anywhere as much as other dealers. Audi sent some spies to the dealership to see if they were doing something wrong marketing the A4. The problem was people were coming in to see the A4, walking across the sales floor to see the Subarus and too many were driving out with a Subaru. The owner of the dealer was given an ultimatum by Audi, get rid of the Subarus, they made lots more money on the Audis so they ditched subaru!