Hyundai: America's Most Successful Car Company according to TIME Magazine

Hyundai is now the most successful car company in the U.S. and it has the numbers to prove it. It has come up with a way to sell cars to people who fear that they will be homeless and it works.

Most large car companies posted more significant unit sales drops in February than analysts expected. GM (GM) only sold 268,737 light vehicles. Three years ago, that would have been its take for the July 4th "cash back" weekend. Ford (F) moved 96,044 units, off 48% from the same month last year. As usual, the Ford PR department did what it could to misdirect and dissemble. Early in its statement about last month's sales, Ford pressed the case for how fabulous it new products are. The most important announcement the company thought it was making was that Ford will introduce the new Fusion model during American Idol. It tells Ford's shareholders how out of touch the company's CEO Alan Mulally is. He can be forgiven. He used to work for Boeing (BA). (See pictures of the remains of Detroit.)
Read Article

inspirion7 - 3/4/2009 2:06:30 PM

+15 Boost

I thought BMW was the best selling LUXURY brand in the world, not Lexus. Now if you were to say Toyota, most of the vehicles are badge engineered to be Lexus, then you would be right. But if sales were to be an indication of success right now, uh, Lexus hasn't done well for awhile compared to their luxury competitors. Sorry.

david999 - 3/4/2009 2:11:08 PM

+4 Boost

inspirion7, the guy above (david969) is a troll.

inspirion7 - 3/4/2009 2:28:27 PM

+7 Boost

oh.

_43LE - 3/4/2009 9:54:05 PM

-5 Boost

Rising sun, you were just saying the same types of things a few days ago...

LACMAN - 3/4/2009 1:58:03 PM

+3 Boost

Say it aint so...

david999 - 3/4/2009 2:07:53 PM

+3 Boost

Hyundai have come a long way with their management.

downtoearth - 3/4/2009 2:08:08 PM

-4 Boost

> It has come up with a way to sell cars to people who fear that they
> will be homeless and it works.

Much like those banks that loaned to N.I.N.J.As aka No Income, No Job, (and) no Assets.

MunichRob - 3/5/2009 9:34:01 AM

+4 Boost

lol david969's gotta be joking... The whole Harvard school bit cracks me up.

SixxFive - 3/4/2009 2:13:03 PM

+7 Boost

Say good-bye to Toyota/Lexus....

chewy - 3/4/2009 2:49:28 PM

+8 Boost

Poorly written article with too much hyperbole.

sector - 3/4/2009 2:54:56 PM

-2 Boost

I agree. they're kicking all kinds of a$$ right now... Japanese, German, American...

PlanB - 3/4/2009 3:54:16 PM

+4 Boost

Hyundai figured out the better marketing ploy and its working out very well for them, they're outthinking the competition right now. It also helps that their cars are pretty decent rides now.

inspirion7 - 3/4/2009 4:17:46 PM

+2 Boost

Hyundai ability to be flexible and fast acting has been its strong suits. Like Target, Hyundai can be all things to enough people to appeal to their needs. They aren't expensive, don't fall apart and have designs that look good for most. Honda and Toyota was at this point once, it's just Hyundai's turn. What is fair is fair.

BJS470 - 3/4/2009 3:59:18 PM

-1 Boost

Still won't buy one...

thstone - 3/4/2009 4:59:22 PM

+1 Boost

Too bad no one else uses the criteria for Best Car Company to be defined as having "lower sales loss as a percentage than other brands". Of course you're going to sell cars when you offer to buy them back. Let's wait a year and see what they're gonna do with all of those used cars that they bought back when they have to write them off. Selling houses to people on shaky financial ground didn't work for the housing industry and its not gonna work for the auto industry either.

Star - 3/4/2009 5:59:20 PM

-3 Boost

It's a Hyundai. It belongs in the trash bin next to the other Asian cars.

hyundaifansdotcom - 3/4/2009 6:38:07 PM

+6 Boost

Yep. They are out in full force tonight.

Obliv - 3/4/2009 6:31:16 PM

-4 Boost

Ford is already past Hyundai in Quality and value. Its only going to increase in the next few years. Very poorly written article.

I guess all you have to do to become #1 in the eyes of Time magazine is copy any design you like and sell it with your name on it.

Selling cars based on the fact youll buy them back if the people lose their jobs is not a viable strategy, as someone above stated.

tango - 3/4/2009 6:52:28 PM

+1 Boost

I somewhat agree with Chewy on this one. The article is poorly written. While I acknowledge that Hyundai is indeed making very big strides, I disagree that few people know that Hyundai makes cars. Or know where Hyundai is from. On the contrary, cars are all most Americans know Hyundai for. Notwitshtanding the fact that they make ships and electronics, and a lot more things too. Everybody hated Hyundai so much back in the day that it single-handedly killed any chane that Daewoo or Kia had even before people got to know them. I owned a Hyundai and a Daewoo and I can tell you, the Hyundai was the dog of the two. That said though, I have forgiven the company and I would be willing to give them another shot. Many people around the world feel the same way too.

EL34 - 3/4/2009 8:36:01 PM

-1 Boost

Nissan, Infiniti, Honda, Acura, Toyota and Lexus are kaput :-D

_43LE - 3/4/2009 9:54:49 PM

+2 Boost

Yes, EL34's biggest dream...

_43LE - 3/5/2009 10:46:13 AM

-1 Boost

Oh Hi Crappy! See that you're back to your old habits of hate.

Whelan - 3/5/2009 10:02:39 AM

+2 Boost

This is coming from the magazine who put Obama on the cover like 16 times. Give me a break. I don't see him on the cover anymore for Change and Hope, even though we are running out of Hope from all this dumbass Change.

jspecrsx - 3/5/2009 10:46:35 AM

+1 Boost

The Hyundai Genesis sedan/coupe are great looking cars with great features/performance at a great price. If you look at the competition you'll be spending at least 10K more for a car of the competition with similar features/performance. The only thing is Hyundai isn't known for it's quality it's known for cheap/10yr/ 100k mi warranty. If the Genesis and future models keep the same strategy great bang for the buck and also retain it's resale value and will last 200k miles like the older honda/toyota/nissan. Hyundai would definately blow out honda/toyota/nissan

jspecrsx - 3/5/2009 5:31:58 PM

+1 Boost

HyundaiSmoke - I wasn't bagging on Hyundai's in fact if you read my comment carefully I was praising the new Hyundai's coming out. Not only do they look great w/ lots of features but has performance for a fraction of the cost vs. the competition. As you said that in the past the resale values drop 50-60% in 3 years. It's sad to say but this is what's still in consumers minds, but like I said in my earlier comment if they keep their current strategy a few more years and consumers do realize that Hyundais can last for 10+ years and 200K miles they would blow out the Japanese automakers.