Hyundai predicts 1 million sales this year

Australia's fastest growing mainstream car brand -- Hyundai -- predicts new vehicle sales will comfortably eclipse the one million mark in 2010.

The latest company to forecast seven-figure sales for the local market this year, the Korean brand says sales may even top the previous record of 1,049,982 set in 2007, marking a rapid return to form for the auto industry.

Hyundai Australia's sales are up by a staggering 65 per cent in the first four months of this year compared with the same period last year -- in a market that has grown by 20 per cent.

"We expect the market to jump back to over 1 million sales this year," said Hyundai's director of sales Damien Meredith, speaking at the launch of the company's new i45 mid-sized sedan.

"If you look at [sales] over the last decade there hasn't been [many years] below 900,000 so Australia has largely shrugged off the global financial crisis."

He said the Federal Government's business tax break on new car purchases was "a good decision".

"It helped keep the market above 900,000 and I think given us a strong start to this year. We're very confident the market will be well and truly above one million this year."

Meredith said Hyundai Australia plans to have its best year since the brand was introduced to Australia in 1986.

Hyundai's self imposed 2010 target of 75,000 sales would top its previous best tally of 63,207 set last year -- itself an increase of 39 per cent over 2008 in a market that contracted by 7.4 per cent.

"We'll have enough cars to supply what we would like to in 2010," he said. "We expect to do 75,000 this year and we believe we can probably do a little bit better than that, but our stated target is 75,000."

Meredith also said it was Hyundai's intention to have sustained growth rather than peaks and troughs.

After a peak of 50,000 sales in 2007, Hyundai dipped to 45,000 sales in 2008 but bounced back to 63,000 last year.

"Long term we want to be a motor vehicle company in Australia that has sustained growth. We don't want to be strong one year and down the next year. We've worked pretty hard in the past couple of years to have a trail of sustained growth."

He said by the end of 2010 Hyundai expected to have 7.5 per cent market share, and then "jump to just below 9 per cent in 2011, and to just below 10 per cent in 2012".

Currently, the official 2010 sales forecast from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries is 1.057 million sales.

To the end of April, the sales tally of 333,228 vehicles was ahead of the same period in 2009 by 20.3 per cent or 56,293 vehicle sales, the FCAI says.

Annual sales: magic millions and near misses
2010: 1,057,000 (estimate)
2009: 937,328
2008: 1,012,164
2007: 1,049,982
2006: 962,666
2005: 988,269
2004: 955,229
2003: 909,811
2002: 824,309
2001: 772,681
* Source: FCAI

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