Hyundai distributor sees 25% sales growth in 2015

MANILA, Philippines–Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. (Hari), the official distributor of Hyundai vehicles in the Philippines, is bullish of making a “rebound” next year, with sales seen to grow by as much as 25 percent due to the introduction of new models and increasing domestic demand.

Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo, president and CEO of Hari, disclosed that they expected vehicle sales next year to hover around 30,000 units in 2015 from the less than 25,000 units that were expected to be sold this year.

“We are positive that we will have a good response from the market with the new models that will be coming in. What will only delay it is if the shipment of these products would come in late in the year or we will have the same shortage of supply as we experienced in the past,” Agudo said on the sidelines of the 2015 Sonata car launch Monday night.

“We expect flat growth for 2014 but we want to rebound from the last two years with these new models because in the last two years, there weren’t (that many) new models that came out,” she added.

On Monday night, Hari unveiled the all-new 2015 Sonata, a luxury sedan that is expected to sell an average 30 to 50 units a month. This model has been redesigned and re-engineered to guarantee comfort, safety and performance. Compared to the previous generation model, the 2015 Sonata is bigger in most aspects and now boasts of a body made up of “advanced high strength steel.”

According to Agudo, the first 50 units would be arriving in the last week of December and were expected to be fully sold out by January as these had been pre-booked. The mid-sized sedan retails for P1.898 million for the top or premium variant and P1.698 million for the basic or the GLS variant.

Apart from the 2015 Sonata, Hari will also be offering next year the new Tucson, the ix25 and the i20 Crossover. These four new models are expected to further boost the company’s market share, increase its customers and bring the Hyundai image to the next level.

Hari ranks third in the local automotive industry in terms of sales. Its market share stood at 9.8 percent but this is expected to grow to about 12 percent by the end of 2015 in parallel with the growth of the Philippine automotive industry.

Also expected to help boost Hari’s growth next year will be the Accent, Eon and the Starex.