Hyundai's simple recipe for sales success | comment

We called it the deal of the decade and it seems Australia agreed.

The Hyundai i30 shot to the top of the sales charts last month, recording 5500 sales as people snapped up the $19,990 drive-away deal for the Korean hatchback.

The sticker price, which was roughly $7000 off the full retail ask, worked because it made life simple for buyers and Hyundai dealers alike.

No need to haggle, no worrying whether other buyers got a better deal, just choose a colour and sign on the dotted line. No doubt the five-year warranty and rear-view camera sealed many a deal as well.

The same applies to the Volkswagen Golf, which came within a whisker of bumping the once-mighty Holden Commodore into eighth place on the sales charts. The simple and attractive $24,990 drive-away deal helped sell 2680 examples.

Ditto the Mitsubishi Triton, which is the third most popular vehicle with private buyers this year, largely because of a cheap — and transparent — $29,990 drive-away deal.

Overall, the car industry remains on course for another record year

Perhaps other brands need to take a leaf from Hyundai's book rather than hide their margins by inviting customers to "do a deal" or take advantage of complicated low-interest loans.

For example, Nissan was offering "extra value" on some models but no headline drive-away deals — sales were down 17 per cent on last year.

Overall, the car industry remains on course for another record year, driven mainly by low interest rates.

Weekly repayments on a $20,000 car today can be as low as $387 a month — three years ago the same car cost about $486. You also pay much less interest on a five-year loan — $3200 today against more than $9000 three years ago.

Alternatively, you could buy a $25,000 car now with the same repayments as a $20,000 car three years ago.