Hyundai's Record October Rests on the Santa Fe
Hyundai posted its best October ever with 73,452 sales, but a 52% jump for the Santa Fe hid a roughly 5% drop for the rest of the range.
Hyundai's best October on record comes with a catch. One SUV, the Santa Fe, carried the total, and the rest of the range slipped.
Hybrids are the steady part
Hybrid volume rose 20% in October and made up 29% of total sales. For the year so far, hybrid sales are up 50%.
Where the range lost ground
The Ioniq 9 dropped 47% in October. Its sales are still up 49% for the year, and it is a low-volume car, with fewer than 7,000 sold so far.
The Sonata slid 29% last month, although its year-to-date sales are up 14%. The Santa Cruz fell 16%. That decline partly explains why Hyundai is ending the model.
The Tucson is the brand's most popular product, and it had a poor month. Sales fell 23% to 17,808 as buyers wait for the redesigned 2027 model. Sales should recover once the all-new fifth-generation Tucson reaches dealers.
The Santa Fe surge
The three-row Santa Fe sold 17,959 units, against 11,800 a year earlier. That is a 52% increase.
Take it out and the rest of the range fell roughly 5% year over year. Without the Santa Fe, Hyundai would have posted a decline instead of a record.
Hyundai's own sales report puts October deliveries at 73,452 vehicles, and the total for the year at 770,916. October is 5% above the same month of 2025, and the year to date is up 3%.
Three other models grew in October. The Elantra rose 17%, the Kona 21% and the Palisade 14%.
Source: CarScoops