Barter: Secret way to dump inventory; Despite PR stigma, automakers take risks to get vehicles off the books.(NEWS)

Byline: Mark Rechtin

As Dave Zuchowski stared at his inventory charts back in March, he knew he had a problem.

The Hyundai Motor America sales boss was looking at a list of 1,300 brand-new Tiburon coupes, mostly with V-6 engines, that he could not sell. The new Genesis Coupe would be arriving in a couple of months, making the Tiburon all but obsolete.

Dealers simply didn't want any more Tiburons, and Zuchowski couldn't dump the "cats and dogs onto fleet customers.

With nowhere else to turn, Zuchowski engineered a sales deal with a back-alley segment of the automotive world known as barter and corporate trade.

"My past experience was that barter was something evil, Zuchowski said. "But this was a much better alternative than dumping into fleet. It's a creative way to go to market, but there is a stigma attached to it.

In exchange for the Tiburons, a company called Active International in Pearl River, N.Y., gave Hyundai pennies on the dollar, with the balance of the invoice price made up of advertising credits that …