The national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline is $4.29 and that’s up nearly $1.15 from a year ago. However, some states like California are paying over $6 per gallon.
Given the sky-high prices, it’s no surprise that customers are embracing hybrids and even showing renewed interest in EVs. That’s certainly the case over at Hyundai, where hybrid sales soared 90% compared to last year. Sonata Hybrid sales were up 250%, while the Santa Fe (30%), Elantra (29%), and Tucson (10%) hybrids also experienced gains.
Electric vehicles also bounced back following the elimination of the federal tax credit last year. In fact, the Ioniq 5 celebrated its best May ever as sales jumped 28% to 5,002 units. The model is now up 16% year-to-date as customers have snapped up 18,395 electric hatchbacks.
The Ioniq 9 is also doing okay as customers bought 1,145 last month. That’s not great, but it’s still a 279% increase from this time last year.
Overall, Hyundai sales were up 3% to 87,468 units. This was largely due to the Tucson, which found 20,581 buyers in May. The crossover was followed by the affordable Elantra, which was up 7% to 16,819 units. The Palisade is also proving popular as consumers snapped up 13,089 of them.
As for the losers, they’re not much of a surprise as Ioniq 6 sales fell 85% to 176 units. Of course, that’s hardly shocking as the company dropped the mainstream model and the high-performance N variant isn’t on sale in America yet.
The Santa Cruz plunged 41%, while the Venue fell 27%. The latter feels like a relic from a bygone era, while the unibody truck is expected to be living on borrowed time.
Vehicle May 26 May 25 % Chg 26 YTD 25 YTD % Chg Elantra 16,819 15,741 +7% 64,660 62,356 +4% Ioniq 5 5,002 3,898 +28% 18,395 15,920 +16% Ioniq 6 176 1,197 -85% 1,203 5,621 -79% Ioniq 9 1,145 302 +279% 4,001 302 +1225% Kona 6,036 7,779 -22% 30,133 32,711 -8% Palisade 13,089 11,207 +17% 52,117 47,944 +9% Santa Cruz 1,785 3,031 -41% 8,214 12,173 -33% Santa Fe 11,220 11,030 +2% 53,621 54,848 -2% Sonata 8,456 6,082 +39% 30,108 27,891 +8% Tucson 20,581 19,905 +3% 98,031 96,932 +1% Venue 3,159 4,349 -27% 12,530 12,879 -3%
