Hyundai Trying To Keep Market Share, While Inventory Is Thin

William Maley
Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com
July 17, 2012

Hyundai has a bit of a problem. Currently, the Korean automaker has 5% market share in the U.S., but their supply of vehicles is very constrained.

How constrained? Using the traditional measure of dealer inventory in "days supply," Hyundai's supply is very very low. At the moment, Hyundai's average at 25-27 days, or less than one month's supply. The Azera stands at 12 days supply.

To put this into perspective, out of a 1,000 vehicles sitting on U.S. dealer lots, 25 of those are Hyundais.

“We know we will be short from a production point of view. We're definitely passing up sales," said John Krafcik, Hyundai Motor America's president and CEO.

To help free up vehicles, Hyundai has cut back on the number vehicles for fleets and is preparing a third shift for their plant in Alabama.

However, Hyundai isn't backing down from their policy to only build 700,000 vehicles globally for the year.

Source: Detroit Free Press

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at william.maley@cheersandgears.com or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.