April 24, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Motor has reduced the production of the midsize sedan Sonata to beef up that for the hot-selling Grandeur, industry sources said on Jan. 4.

The Korean tech giant produces the two sedan cars at the same plant in Asan, Gyeonggi Province. Sources said the carmaker has recently cut the Sonata production by 8,000 units per month to meet the soaring demand for the new Grandeur that was launched in November. 

Related:
Hyundai Motor mulls withdrawing Azera in US


The latest sixth-generation Grandeur, segmented between Hyundai’s Sonata and Genesis sedans, has been revamped after five years.

The car sold a total of 13,833 units in December. Considering all sales of its predecessor model and the hybrid version, Grandeur was the top-selling car of the month. About 30,000 customers are waiting for the delivery that would take about two months.

The upbeat sales come as Hyundai is considering pulling out the sedan car from the US market where it is sold as Azera.

In November, the carmaker said it had no plan to sell the new Grandeur in the US, citing sluggish sales of the car for years.

Since the car sales peaked in 2006 with annual sales of 27,000 units, the figure has sharply declined to sell 5,550 units in 2015.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)