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Gabe Nelson 
Automotive News
January 25, 2015 – 12:01 am ET
SAN FRANCISCO — Hyundai is less than a year away from redesigning the Elantra compact car, its most popular U.S. model.
First, the factory will spend a little bit to help U.S. dealers clear out inventory of the current Elantra, Hyundai Motor America CEO Dave Zuchowski told dealers Sunday at Hyundai’s make meeting here.
Hyundai is planning to offer increased incentives and extra-rich trim packages for model year 2016 to give the Elantra an edge against rival models, he confirmed after the meeting.
“We know it’s a fiercely competitive segment, and we need to sell that vehicle down on a smooth basis to clear the decks for the new model,” Zuchowski told Automotive News.
Elantra’s U.S. sales fell 10 percent last year to 222,023 vehicles.
Financing plans
Hyundai also introduced dealers to Sam Suh, the new CEO of Hyundai Capital America, the parent company of Hyundai Motor Finance and Kia Motors Finance. Before taking that position this January, Suh worked as head of overseas business for HCA’s Korean-based parent company, Hyundai Capital.
Suh told dealers that Hyundai plans to offer discount financing for returning customers to help Hyundai’s customer loyalty.
“We have a lot of lease returns coming back this year,” Zuchowski said. “[Suh] announced some changes earlier this week to make sure we’re capturing those return customers and putting them into our cars.”
Hyundai dealers interviewed after the meeting said they were optimistic even though Hyundai’s recent growth has lagged the overall expansion of the industry. The brand’s U.S. sales rose 1 percent in 2014 to 725,718 units. The overall U.S. market rose 6 percent.
“We need to regain our retail share, for sure,” said Blake Underriner, a manager at Underriner Motors in Billings, Mont., and son of the 2012 NADA Chairman Bill Underriner. “We’re got some great models coming out this year, and that’s a positive step.”
You can reach Gabe Nelson at gnelson@crain.com.
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