Hyundai, Kia in Right Place at Right Time

For now, the U.S. auto market continues to hum along on its recovery path, with April sales reported to have risen about 18% over the year-earlier figure and the long-term sales pace – at about 13.2 million units for the year – right on target with where automakers have predicted that 2011 would end up.

Problem is, there’s a train wreck – or, more appropriately, let’s call it a 50-car pile-up – coming in May as still-rising demand for small cars by American consumers finally runs into the drastic supply constrictions being felt by Japanese brands, especially, and even by Ford.

This month, there simply will be many fewer small cars available than buyers who want to purchase them, and sales will have to trend down – especially, of course, for Toyota, Honda and Nissan.Continue reading...