Hyundai Motor America has new sales chief

By Park Jin-hai

Derrick Hatami, vice president of Hyundai Motor

Hyundai Motor America (HMA) has managed to get back a former manager who left for Nissan to lead its U.S. sales, the company announced Thursday.

Hyundai’s U.S. branch named Derrick Hatami vice president of national sales.

The announcement came a day after Hyundai announced the sudden departure of sales chief Bob Prandzinski, who held the No. 2 sales executive position from January.

Hatami will be in charge of sales and distribution of Hyundai vehicles in the United States, franchised dealer relations and market representation.

He worked as general manager for the western region at Hyundai before he joined Nissan as vice president of U.S. sales.

He starts work at Hyundai today.

“Derrick's strategic outlook, vision, planning experience and commitment to dealers make him a perfect fit to lead our sales operation,” said Dave Zuchowski, HMA president.

“He set sales records with us and in his former position, and we look forward to him continuing that run at Hyundai,” he added.

Hyundai and Kia have being reporting their best sales performances in the U.S.

Thanks to increasing demand for their sports utility vehicles, the Tucson, Santa Fe and Carnival, August sales hit 130,909, up 5 percent from a year earlier.

It was the best August sales total ever and gave the two an 8.3 percent market share.

In August, the U.S. automotive market reported a 0.6 percent drop in sales from the previous year. Toyota’s sales fell 8.8 percent and Honda 6.9 percent, while Volkswagen saw a 1.2 percent drop and GM, 0.7 percent.