Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI), the official distributor of Hyundai vehicles in the Philippines, quells the ghost month with August sales up by 10% to a total of 2,073 units compared to its year-ago level. With positive sales performance in August, Hyundai’s year-to-date sales tally reached 15,676 units, 7% higher than the recorded 14,713 units for the first eight months of 2013.

The Passenger Car (PC) segment fueled Hyundai’s over-all sales performance as the segment posted 21% year-on-year growth in August with 1,526 units sold. Backed by Hyundai’s Best of Deals campaign, the sub-compact EON scored 44% sales growth, while, Accent further built the PC sales track with 54% sales growth in August. Rounding out the laudable sales performance of the PC cars was the Genesis Coupe as the model asserted 200% year-on-year growth. Improved August sales lifted year-to-date PC sales to 10,833 units, 22% up compared to the same period last year.

On the other hand, the Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) segment failed to keep at par with the PC category’s strong growth for the month of August.  LCV sales was down by 11% year-on-year with 547 units sold. Despite negative growth in the LCV segment, Santa Fe staged a comeback with 85% year-on-year growth. This was followed by the sustained performance of the Grand Starex, which witnessed 7% sales growth in August with 238 units sold.  Year-to-date, the LCV category experienced a 17% decline in sales to 4,843 units from the 5,846 units in the same period last year. Supply constraints continue to undermine the segment’s over-all performance.