Hyundai Says Clunkers Incentive Accounts for 7% of Sales

Last week, Hyundai announced that it would start accepting eligible “clunkers” as trade-ins, even before the federal government’s official program began allocating funds. It was part of the automaker’s recent “Assurance” campaign, and it seemed to work at least a little, with 7% of the company’s sales over that period coming from clunker-eligible trade-ins.

Almost any brand in today’s climate would be ecstatic with a sales increase of 7%. Hyundai says Ford and Dodge led the list of brands traded in, at 32% and 23%, respectively. The company also touted its own current incentives and $1.49 gas deal. According to Hyundai, with those deals in place, if you fully qualify for Cash for Clunkers a new Elantra could be had for $8,620.

Hyundai expects sales from the program to grow to about 10% for the entire month of July.

More Cash for Clunkers News

Hyundai Advances Dealers Cash for Clunkers Funds

The government hasn’t finished registering dealers for its Cash for Clunkers program yet, and rules for how funds will be distributed haven’t been released to the public or dealers. Hyundai isn’t waiting, however. The company is supplying cash funds to dealers now in advance of CARS going into effect. In fact, it already paid one car shopper last week for turning in a 1995 Ford Explorer while purchasing a new Hyundai Elantra Touring.

Hyundai is being aggressive with its latest incentives, as the company is one of the few to see sales success since the economic downturn. It’s still offering its Assurance plan, and this month it launched a gas incentive good for $1.49-a-gallon gas for a year.

You can check out our up-to-date guide to Cash for Clunkers here, as well as a full list of eligible vehicles (by mpg) here.

Hyundai Expedites Benefits of Cash for Clunkers (AutoRemarketing.com)

Details Emerge on Hyundai Cash Back, $1.49 Gas

Yesterday, Hyundai announced its new $1.49 gallon of gas incentive. Buyers of new Hyundais would get a guaranteed price of $1.49 per gallon of gas for a year rather than traditional cash-back incentives. Today, Hyundai has released which models not only get the gas offer, but also include additional cash back.

The full list is below.

Hyundai Giving $1.49 Gas for a Year

Last summer when gas hit $4 a gallon, Chrysler rolled out a unique incentive program that locked in $2.99 a gallon gas prices for a year. That was a relative bargain at the time, especially if you lived in states with higher gas prices like California or Illinois. However, gas quickly returned to sub-$3 prices in the fall, and consumers who opted for the gas plan were left with a worthless incentive.

This summer, gas prices have yet to break the $3 point nationally — although they have in many places like Chicago — but that isn’t stopping Hyundai from offering a similar incentive, $1.49 a gallon for a full year when you buy a new car. It’s doubtful that we’ll see sub-$2 gas anytime soon and sub-$1.50 gas is even more unlikely, so this price seems like a good deal.

Just like the Chrysler plan, Hyundai’s Assurance Gas Lock isn’t without a catch. If you opt for the cheap gas you give up most of the traditional cash incentives, which for some Hyundai models are quite significant. However, the company says depending on the model purchased there will be some form of rebate available on top of the gas deal. We’ll bring you the full list of offers when they become available.

Gas Lock applies to Accent (excluding base model), Tiburon, Elantra, Elantra Touring, Entourage, Sonata, Azera, Santa Fe, Tucson and Veracruz. Hyundai points out that most of these vehicles will qualify for the new Cash for Clunkers program as well, which would lead to either a $3,500 or $4,500 cash incentive from the government. Theoretically, giving shoppers both cash-back and gas incentives.

The program starts Wednesday and runs through Aug. 31.

2009|Hyundai|Sonata

2009|Hyundai|Elantra

2009|Hyundai|Elantra Touring

2008|Hyundai|Entourage

2009|Hyundai|Azera

2008|Hyundai|Tiburon

2009|Hyundai|Accent

2009|Hyundai|Veracruz

Hyundai's Confusing Monthly Cash-Back Commercials

After using the innovative incentive programs Hyundai Assurance and Assurance Plus to ride out the economic storm, Hyundai is touting a new program, promising that if a customer buys a vehicle before June 30, the automaker will send him or her six months of cash payments.

The ads are a bit on the misleading side, however, as Hyundai is not actually offering a new deal or adding any additional money. Rather, it’s giving consumers the option to take the cash back offered on their vehicles in the form of six monthly payments rather than one lump sum.

Say you buy a 2008 Veracruz that already has a $4,000 cash-back offer. Rather than getting a $4,000 price reduction, you can opt for six monthly payments of $666.67 to a Visa debit card. In other words, it’s a different package for the same offer.

There’s also a possibility that Hyundai is cluttering its offers and that this deal will get confused with its Assurance plan, which allows for the return of a car if the buyer loses his or her job. Why not just say, “This car will cost $4,000 less”?

Hyundai Pays You to Buy a Car, Kind Of (Wheels)

Recall Alert: 2002-03 Hyundai Sonata

Hyundai has issued a recall for 91,202 Sonata vehicles from the 2002-03 model years, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recall is due to a thin chrome plate on the interior door handle.

After enough wear, the chrome plating on the upper edge of the handle may crack or separate, leaving a sharp edge protruding from the door handle. This could cause a scrape or laceration.

Dealers will repair the chrome-plated interior door handle for free. Owners may contact the Hyundai customer assistance center at 800-633-5151 or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at 888-327-4236.

Cars.com Reviews the 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe

The Hyundai Genesis won praise from almost all corners, even nabbing Cars.com’s New Car of the Year award. Now Hyundai has introduced the 2010 Genesis Coupe, which shares the rear-wheel-drive performance chops of the sedan. Reviewer Mike Hanley is on hand for the review and looks into whether it should keep the Genesis name. Read his full review to find out.

2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe Review

Rhys Millen Drifts the 2009 Hyundai Genesis Sedan

Sure, it might be easy to drift a new Hyundai Genesis coupe, which is a rear-wheel-drive sports car meant for performance. But can famed race driver Rhys Millen get the back wheels of the 2009 Cars.com New Car of the Year, the Hyundai Genesis sedan, smoking in circles? Check out the video above to see if he has the goods.

Rhys Millen Drifts the 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe: Video

Rhys Millen and teammate Stephan Verdier put on a drifting clinic for us at a rally in Elkhart Lake, Wis., last week. The two devastated a slew of tires all in the name of good fun. If you just ate lunch, you may want to watch this video in about an hour.

Hyundai Offers $1,500 Rebate for Elantra Touring

Through June 1, Hyundai is offering $1,500 cash back on the brand-new 2009 Elantra Touring.

Treated as a separate model from the plain old Elantra sedan, the 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring offers more than just a hatchback in place of a trunk. As our reviewer Joe Wiesenfelder pointed out, the Touring comes with more passenger room and a more refined interior. The ride also impressed David Thomas, with a smooth-shifting manual transmission that’s easy to get along with.

The one sticking point for most of our reviewers was the price. At $17,800, the Touring’s starting MSRP automatically makes similar cars like the Scion xB, Pontiac Vibe and Subaru Impreza better deals. Perhaps Hyundai pays attention to Cars.com reviews, because a $1,500 rebate offer is nothing to sneeze at. Slice off a chunk of cash like that, and the Elantra Touring starts to look like quite a deal.