How a St. Louis-Area Hyundai Dealer Increased Elantra Sales by 200%

A St. Louis-area Hyundai dealership had about 150 former service-loaner Elantras to sell, with potentially another 150 on the way.

With relatively low demand for Elantras across the market, the Catalyst IQ team launched dedicated digital advertising campaigns using customized offers and messaging specifically for the dealership’s inventory.

From August through October 2026, this focused advertising strategy helped the St. Louis-area Hyundai dealership increase average monthly Elantra sales by more than 200%.

The Opportunity: Move Hundreds of Elantras in a Low-Demand Market

The dealership started working with Catalyst IQ in 2025 because it wanted the support of a Hyundai certified partner. In the summer of 2026, the dealership brought its Catalyst IQ Dealer Success Manager (DSM) a new challenge: Finding a way to move hundreds of Elantras in a market with relatively low demand.

The DSM used MarketAI to show the dealership what it was up against. From August through October, the surrounding market had an average of 525 Elantras in inventory and a 127-day supply.

With more Elantras continuing to arrive, the dealership needed a targeted strategy to reach more shoppers and capture a greater share of the available demand.

The Strategy: Build a Campaign Around the Inventory That Needed to Move

Rather than relying on the dealership’s existing advertising strategy, the dealership’s DSM recommended building additional campaigns specifically around the Elantra inventory.

The strategy included new campaigns across:

• Paid search
• Performance Max
• Paid social
• OTT/CTV

Our team built each campaign specifically around the Elantra inventory, pairing custom ad copy and voiceover with vehicle images and details pulled directly from the dealership’s VDPs.

The dealership’s existing advertising programs for the rest of its new Hyundai lineup continued running alongside the new Elantra campaigns.

The Results: 3X More Elantra's Moved Per Month

During the three months before implementing the new strategy, the dealership moved an average of 14 Elantras per month.

From August through October 2026, that increased to more than 42 per month, a 3X increase in average monthly Elantra sales.

The new campaigns drove significantly more shoppers to the Elantra inventory. Monthly VDP views increased more than 1,600%, from an average of 475 to 8,150. Monthly active users increased more than 1,200%, from 425 to 5,570.

The rest of the dealership’s new Hyundai inventory also moved more efficiently during the same period. Although the dealership carried less non-Elantra inventory, its turn rate for those vehicles improved by 28% compared to the previous three months.

Move More of the Vehicles That Are Harder to Sell 

Moving more of the dealership’s slow-selling Elantras required a focused strategy built around that specific inventory.

MarketAI’s real-time data helped the DSM understand local Elantra supply, demand, and vehicle movement and build the strategy around what was actually happening in the market. Using that data to improve targeting and shape customized messaging helped the dealership reach more in-market shoppers and triple its average monthly Elantra sales.

And when the new approach worked, the Hyundai dealership didn't stop there. It's now applying a similar approach to another priority model.

Have inventory you need to move? Talk with Catalyst IQ about building a strategy that sells more vehicles, faster.