VEHICLE importer Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. (Hari) reported that sales fell by 4 percent to 14,883 units in the first three quarters of the year, pulled down by the 9-percent decline in sales of light commercial vehicles (LCV).

Hari’s year-to-date total sales drop was cushioned by the good performance of its passenger car models Accent, Elantra and Sonata, which collectively registered a growth of 1 percent for the period to 7,217 units.

“With the increasing market demand for Sonata and our new models, Accent and Elantra, Hyundai is strongly positioned to keep our growth in the passenger car segment while we continue to shore up competitiveness of our dealerships and maintain our optimism on our full sales performance with expectations of reduced uncertainty from a stable economy, better supply situation, and improved consumer outlook with the onset of the holiday season,” said Maria Fe Perez-Agudo, Hari President and CEO.

As of September, sales of the Accent grew by close to 1 percent and accounted for Hari’s 48-percent share of PC sales and 23 percent of total sales. The Elantra sold 1,578 units or an average of 316 units a month since it was introduced in April. Sales of Sonata, on the other hand, grew by 67 percent to 432 units.

Supply constraints, meanwhile, led to the decline in Hari’s LCV sales despite resilient consumer demand.

In September, Hari only sold 1,612 units, down 11 percent compared with the same month last year.

“Coupled with potential better supply condition, Hari looks forward to positive consumer sentiment and thus reinforced sales demand for the remainder of the year on the back of greater government spending in the fourth quarter, steady growth in worker remittances in time for the Yuletide season, a healthy banking system, fiscally strong economy and improved consumer confidence in the last quarter as reported by the Bangko Sentral’s latest consumer expectations survey,” the company said.