Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Automotive News
  • Automotive News Europe
  • Automotive News China
  • Automobilwoche
Subscribe
  • Subscribe
  • login
  • HOME
  • News
    • News by Brand
    • Auto Shows
    • Canadians Abroad
    • Photo Galleries
    • Automakers
    • Suppliers
    • Retail
    • Dealer Best Practices
    • Government Relations
    • Trade and Tariffs
    • Technology
    • Labour
    • Aston Martin
    • BMW
      • Mini
      • Rolls Royce
    • Daimler
      • Mercedes Benz
      • Smart
    • Ferrari
    • Ford
      • Lincoln
    • General Motors
      • Buick
      • Cadillac
      • Chevrolet
      • GMC
    • Honda
      • Acura
    • Hyundai
      • Kia
    • Mazda
    • Mitsubishi
    • Nissan
      • Infiniti
    • Stellantis
      • Alfa Romeo
      • Chrysler
      • Dodge
      • Fiat Chrysler
      • Jeep
      • Fiat
      • Lancia
      • Maserati
      • Ram
    • Subaru
    • Tata
      • Jaguar
      • Land Rover
    • Tesla
    • Toyota
      • Lexus
    • Volkswagen
      • Audi
      • Bentley
      • Bugatti
      • Lamborghini
      • Porsche
    • Volvo
    • VinFast
    • Toronto Auto Show
  • Opinion
    • Blogs
  • Video
  • Podcasts
  • EVENTS & AWARDS
    • 2022 Auto News Canada All-Stars
    • 2023 Canadians To Watch
    • Notable Champions of Diversity
    • Best Dealerships To Work For
    • Canada Congress
    • Retail Forum: Toronto
    • Leading Women Roundtables
    • Embracing Diversity Roundtable
    • Embracing Diversity Roundtable Volume 2
    • EVs Decoded
    • 2023 Best Dealerships to Work For
  • Jobs & Classifieds
  • +MORE
    • IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT
    • NEWSLETTERS
    • SUBSCRIBE
    • CLASSIFIEDS
    • PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
    • COMPANIES ON THE MOVE
    • WEBINARS
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • CONTACT US
    • DIGITAL EDITION
    • PUBLISHING PARTNERS
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Retail
October 08, 2019 09:37 AM

How Hyundai and Kia are bucking Canada's downward sales trend

John Irwin
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Hyundai

    The Hyundai Palisade is one of a few crossovers fuelling growth for what had been an automaker dependent on cars.

    Hyundai and Kia are bucking the downward sales trend in Canada, thanks to an expanding utility-vehicle portfolio and different approaches to retailing that have sometimes ruffled dealer feathers. 

    For the South Korean brands — newer to the Canadian market than many competitors from the United States, Japan and Europe — it’s a sign that consumer perceptions of their vehicles are changing. The notion that buying a Kia or Hyundai vehicle means settling on quality is becoming less prominent among Canadian buyers, if growing sales and high marks for quality in consumer studies are any indication. 

    “I think it comes with the territory that when you’re a relatively new brand relative to the domestics and even the Japanese, you get started with a value proposition and then you try to move to a premium proposition over time,” Hyundai Canada CEO Don Romano said. 

    “To me, it’s natural. The shrinking [perception] gap will continue because it’s a function of us being a newer brand than our competition. 

    “There are still people out there that don’t pronounce Hyundai the proper way, so there’s still work to be done to get the numbers up. But it’s happening and heading in the right direction.” 

    IMAGINE THE FUTURE 

    The Kia Telluride concept, right, debuted in Detroit in 2016.

    Hyundai and Kia, as well as the Genesis luxury brand, have been on the receiving end of good news in a year marked by slow sales for most brands. Hyundai was up 3.5 per cent through September to 103,149 units, while Kia rose 4.1 per cent to 60,113. That flies in the face of overall sales that fell an estimated 4.1 per cent during the same period, according to the Automotive News Data Center in Detroit. 

    Hyundai and Kia also finished second and third, respectively, in J.D. Power’s annual Initial Quality Study, trailing only Genesis. 

    “If this is where we’re at [now], I can only imagine what it will be in the future,” said Elias El-Achhab, Kia Canada COO. 

    For both the formerly car-heavy companies, a host of new utility vehicles is helping drive growth. Hyundai has the new Kona and Palisade, while Kia recently launched the Telluride. 

    Dave Sargent, vice-president of global automotive at J.D. Power, said consumers are drawn to the brands because features such as their infotainment systems are easy to use. Other brands, he said, get tripped up in the Initial Quality Study because of software and other non-manufacturing-related issues. 

    THEY KEEP TECH SIMPLE 

    “When they have decisions to make around ‘Do we do what the consumers want, or do we compromise for other reasons?’ they almost never compromise,” Sargent said. 

    “They tend to keep their technology simple. It’s not that they don’t have voice recognition or Bluetooth or CarPlay, but they don’t over-engineer it. They give consumers 95 per cent of everything they could want in a very simple-to-use form. 

    “You get into a Hyundai and everything kind of works the way it’s supposed to. There’s not a lot of fumbling around and trying to figure out how this works.”

    Romano also attributed some of Hyundai’s growth to the automaker’s dealer-image program, launched globally in 2014. It will draw a compliance rate of 90 per cent among Canadian dealers by next year, he said, adding that it was critical to improving the company’s dealerships and reassessing Hyundai’s processes as new vehicles came down the pipeline. 

    “It included things like washing every car after service,” Romano said. “That adds time and expense to the dealers in addition to the new facilities. 

    Dealers “weren’t happy,” he said. “But then, business started to improve. 

    “We took our sales expectations down. Instead of pushing for market share, we let natural demand take place. That allowed us to reduce inventory and inventory expenses for our dealers. Then the next year [2017], business got a little better for them. And then last year we started hitting our stride. Now, they’re real happy.” 

    Still, it’s not all good news for the brands. Neither Kia nor Hyundai is immune to the shift in consumer preferences away from cars toward utility vehicles. And as Romano noted, brands that depend on imports are hurt by a low Canadian dollar. 

    “The worst thing anyone can do in this industry is become overconfident. We just have to constantly innovate, constantly prepare, constantly push the dealers and have them push us on how we become better.” 

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Why an expert told Canadian dealers to price used cars like bananas
    Recommended for You
    Dale Pollak
    Why an expert told Canadian dealers to price used cars like bananas
    JakeFisher-MAIN_i.jpg
    EVs are far less reliable than ICE as automakers launch new, high-tech models, Consumer Reports says
    All about Quebec's new right-to-repair law
    All about Quebec's new right-to-repair law
    imagetouse
    Sponsored Content: Cloud-based MES is the competitive edge you need
    Digital Edition
    November 23 Issue
    View latest issue
    See our archive
    Sign up for free newsletters
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Get Free Newsletters

    Sign up today for our Weekly Newsletter, Daily Newsletter and Breaking News Alerts. We'll deliver the news you need to know straight to your inbox.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Subscribe Now

    An Automotive News Canada subscription includes print issues delivered to your doorstep and digitally to your inbox – plus unlimited, 24/7 access to our website.

    Subscribe Now
    Connect With Us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Our Mission

    The Automotive News Canada mission is to be the primary source of industry news, data and understanding for the industry's decision-makers interested in Canada.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Ave
    Detroit MI 48207

    1-877-812-1257

    Email Us

    ISSN 2475-5001 (print)
    ISSN 2475-501X (online)

    Resources
    • About us
    • Contact Us
    • Digital Edition Archive
    • Advertise with Us
    • Reprints
    • Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Automotive News Canada
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • HOME
    • News
      • News by Brand
        • Aston Martin
        • BMW
          • Mini
          • Rolls Royce
        • Daimler
          • Mercedes Benz
          • Smart
        • Ferrari
        • Ford
          • Lincoln
        • General Motors
          • Buick
          • Cadillac
          • Chevrolet
          • GMC
        • Honda
          • Acura
        • Hyundai
          • Kia
        • Mazda
        • Mitsubishi
        • Nissan
          • Infiniti
        • Stellantis
          • Alfa Romeo
          • Chrysler
          • Dodge
          • Fiat Chrysler
          • Jeep
          • Fiat
          • Lancia
          • Maserati
          • Ram
        • Subaru
        • Tata
          • Jaguar
          • Land Rover
        • Tesla
        • Toyota
          • Lexus
        • Volkswagen
          • Audi
          • Bentley
          • Bugatti
          • Lamborghini
          • Porsche
        • Volvo
        • VinFast
      • Auto Shows
        • Toronto Auto Show
      • Canadians Abroad
      • Photo Galleries
      • Automakers
      • Suppliers
      • Retail
      • Dealer Best Practices
      • Government Relations
      • Trade and Tariffs
      • Technology
      • Labour
    • Opinion
      • Blogs
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • EVENTS & AWARDS
      • 2022 Auto News Canada All-Stars
      • 2023 Canadians To Watch
      • Notable Champions of Diversity
      • Best Dealerships To Work For
        • 2023 Best Dealerships to Work For
      • Canada Congress
      • Retail Forum: Toronto
      • Leading Women Roundtables
      • Embracing Diversity Roundtable
      • Embracing Diversity Roundtable Volume 2
      • EVs Decoded
    • Jobs & Classifieds
    • +MORE
      • IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT
      • NEWSLETTERS
      • SUBSCRIBE
      • CLASSIFIEDS
      • PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
      • COMPANIES ON THE MOVE
      • WEBINARS
      • ADVERTISE WITH US
      • CONTACT US
      • DIGITAL EDITION
      • PUBLISHING PARTNERS