Hyundai’s Record October Would Have Been A Decline Without The Santa Fe

This Santa Fe’s unexpected sales spike provided a much-needed boost for Hyundai’s October sales

Hyundai

Hyundai just recorded its best October ever in terms of sales, but as we take a closer look at which vehicles performed well, it shows interesting trends in what buyers are looking for. Not surprisingly, the three-row Santa Fe was the strongest performer, but what did stand out is that without this SUVs sizeable surge, Hyundai would have been looking at a sales decline rather than a record month.

According to Hyundai’s sales report, the brand sold a record 73,452 vehicles in October, and it’s currently sitting on 770,916 sales for the year — that’s a 5% increase from October 2025 and a 3% gain year to date. Those figures are mostly for context because the Santa Fe alone accounted for a 52% increase with 17,959 units sold last month compared to 11,800 sales a year ago. In other words, taking the Sante Fe out of the equation away, and the rest of the lineup was down roughly 5% year over year in October.

The auto industry is a tough one, and Hyundai’s October sales show how a single car can make a month look better. With that in mind, let’s look at the flip side of Hyundai’s offerings.

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Bolstering the Santa Fe’s strong October, the Elantra, Kona, and Palisade grew 17%, 21%, and 14%, respectively, but the brand’s most popular product, the Tucson, was a flop for the month. As buyers wait for the redesigned 2027 Hyundai Tucson, sales numbers plummeted by 23% to 17,808. Once the all-new fifth-gen Tucson hits dealers, those sales numbers should rebound.

Things are a little more concerning for other models, though. Despite overall sales being up 49% on the year so far, the Ioniq 9 was down a whopping 47% in October, but it’s a low-volume offering with less than 7,000 sales so far this year. Similarly, the Sonata, was down 29% last month even though its year-to-date sales are up 14%. Not surprisingly, the Santa Cruz continues its downfall with a drop of 16%, which partly explains why the brand is killing it off.

Of course, a record month is still a record month in the end. As you can see, Hyundai’s lineup was all over the place in terms of sales last month, with some big losers and some big winners, but the brand has reason to be excited for the future. Its hybrid volume increased 20% and represented 29% of total sales. So far this year, hybrid sales are up a whopping 50%.

Source: www.carscoops.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.