Automotive Fleet has published their mid-year report of fleet sales, and there are a few surprises to be found. The Crown Vic's place at the top of the list (94.2 percent of sales to fleets) is not one of them. Nor will anyone gasp at the Sebring's (69.9 percent of convertibles and 62.2 percent of sedans) and Avenger's (65.5 percent) rankings. However, the stats show that 56.6 percent of Dodge Calibers went to fleets, as did 49.9 percent of Chevy Impalas. The highest import nameplate: the Mazda6 (59.5 percent) followed by the Suzuki XL7 (53.2 percent) and, believe it or not, the Volvo S40 (48.9 percent). Brands you'd think were naturals for fleets like Hyundai and Kia placed below the 50 percent level. Overall, 21.8 percent of the cars and 20.8 percent of the trucks sold the first half of this year went to fleets. As overall sales drop and inventory builds up, that number will probably grow for the second half. We'll offer a more detailed analysis of fleet sales soon. [Thanks to NoSubstitute for the link]
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Where did the other 5.8% of Crown Vic sales go? I thought it was fleet-only.
86er: directly to the MIB.
I would have (spontaneously) considered a Crown Vic last year when I bought my Fusion, because it would be a crazy-but-not-too-crazy choice for a 30-something X-Gen family guy to drive–but by golly the Ford dealer didn’t have a single one on the lot!!!
Volvo S40? Almost half?
Now I’m intrigued. Are sororities buying in bulk now? ;)
I dunno, Sajeev, I think a Box Vic circa 1980 was a pretty fitting “Ford POS”.
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/3178/equip01.jpg
Half of Impalas went to fleets?!?! I’m shocked, I tell you, I’m shocked — I thought everybody loved them, and that GM was determined to eliminate fleet sales.
OK, enough humor — this just shows you how important it is for GM to have a couple of cars that they can claim are in the top 10. They’d rather build them on triple shifts and sell them on the cheap than just make fewer of them and develop a better replacement. And they wonder why some of us are critical of their management…
Dodge Calibers are popular with the rental fleets as customers look to downsize. Having rented one recently, it is infinitely preferable to the alternatives (Chevy Aveo and Kia Rio).
As for the Mazda 6, Mazda is trying to move their old body style 6 in advance of the new 2009 model. I would expect that number to drop significantly next year.
Its no big surprise about the the Impala, CV, and Caliber and other Chrysler models. For the Impala its makes sense to keep that more into fleet as to not take sales away from the new Malibu or the other way around. The CV is always a fleet car and where its at there is no big deal. On the other hand, most every Chrysler model is there and that isnt good, but I guess its what they got left.
Although it is interesting to see Volvo, Mazda and other brands increasing their fleets. But I guess its proof that anyone will get what fleet sales they can.
Funny…all of those Crown Vics going to fleets…and it is still Ford’s most profitable platform.
Amazing.
BTW…could someone post the direct link to the fleet numbers for all models? I have been searching the web site and cannot find it at all.
Who’s buying Volvo S40s? Are they all rental cars, or what?
God help the poor bastards who buy an off-lease S40 from a rental agency.
Where do all those S40s go?
They are always on these fleet sale lists, not sure where they end up. I do a lot of business travel and never see these kciking around the rental lots. Maybe I’m just flying to the wrong airports.
The S40 doesn’t sell in very large numbers, so while the proportion of fleet sales may be high, the total number of fleet sales is surely not that great.
I’ll bet that most of them are corporate fleet sales. Outside salespeople, that sort of thing.
My previous company (pharmaceutical industry) leased several hundred fleet cars, and the Volvo S40 was one of the choices that sales reps could pick. I’d definitely prefer that to many other alternatives, even though they’re kinda small inside.
Edit: Just found the direct link to the full report:
http://www.automotive-fleet.com/Statistics/StatsViewer.aspx?file=http%3a%2f%2fwww.automotive-fleet.com%2ffc_resources%2fstats%2f2008-MY-Midyear-Registrations.pdf&channel=
Anyway, the S40 is 3,766 retail sales and 3,599 fleet sales (1,586 commercial, 1 government, 2,012 rental). So, most of the fleet sales are going to daily rentals for the S40, but a decently-sized chunk are also going to commercial fleets.
The S40’s have been showing up more and more at Hertz.
Needforspeed007 …For the Impala its makes sense to keep that more into fleet as to not take sales away from the new Malibu or the other way around…
Except for the fact it really hurts retail buyers in the long run, like two of my brother-in-laws who bought Impala’s earlier this year, one in rental white. And the Malibu is 33% fleet, I wouldn’t consider that a great improvement to their past practices, especially for a brand new car they said would not go to fleets.
86er : I dunno, Sajeev, I think a Box Vic circa 1980 was a pretty fitting “Ford POS”.
Those can’t last forever. (probably) These days, who knows how many secret govt. agencies buy blacked out Vics in the name of Freedom?
Seriously though, I thought Ford tried to reduce overlap by taking Crown Vics out of retail purchases and let the Mighty-Mighty Marquis have all of the retail pie. What’s left of it, that is.
Do we know what months this covers? It’s clearly not H1 of 2008. Maybe Sep 15 07 – Mar 15 08? It’s definitely over the late fall 2007/early 2008 timeframe.
That would explain the Malibu’s fleet levels as the new model was barely rolling off the line until January. That would also explain the Highlander’s fleet levels and Rav4’s levels as they coincide with Toyota fleet sales. That would also explain the Corolla’s really low fleet numbers (Toyota did their push in May this year – and did very little during the changeover) and the Edge’s relatively high numbers – Ford did fleet pushes in October and Jan/Feb – and the Fusion’s commercial mix – Ford sold a ton to commercial fleets in Nov – Jan.
Frank,
Now you can make a real retail sales ranking!
Detroit is looking pretty bad. Cars like Malibu, Impala, Fusion and Edge are not selling all that well at the retail level.
Are we yet at the world shattering ranking?:
1. Toyota
2. GM
3. Honda
4. Ford
5. Nissan
6. Chrysler
Redbarchetta- Fleet sales only hurt new retail buyers who are going to get rid of their cars at 3 years or less. Since those people aren’t being financially prudent in the first place I don’t feel sorry for them.
From the fleet sales chart, the Chevrolet Silverado is the best selling full size pickup truck to actual customers, not fleets. It bests the Ford F-150 by approx. 24k retail units; and when you factor in the GMC Sierra, GM sells ~107k more trucks than Ford to retail buyers.
I have to add something that has not been said… fleets are not all rental agencies. My company uses GE Fleet for our company cars… they buy almost all Chevrolet (and some Subaru Foresters for those of us in snowy areas…) and I have to say that ALMOST everyone in my company has a new bodied Impala. They get crappy mileage, but they are at least somewhat comfortable for those of us that drive 30K plus per year. Now, I am still getting a Subaru to replace my current Equinox… just say NO to Impala for me!
So….fleet sales are kind of like an enema for the big 2.#
Sorry…couldn’t resist.
Wow, I cannot remember the last time I saw a newer Volvo on the road. Sad…
I understand that there’s a “fleet-only” Malibu with a pushrod V6/4spd auto.
Has anyone been given a 4cyl Malibu as a rental?
IIRC, the 4cyl ‘Bu was NOT to be sold to rental companies; but I wonder if GM reneged on that policy.
@shaker:
If it’s like before, then the previous generation Malibu became the “Malibu Classic” and absorbs the vast majority of fleet sales, to the newer version doesn’t have to.
Ah! Thanks, CarShark!
CarShark is right–there is a 2008 old style Malibu that’s badged a “classic”. Since there’s no Classic model in the Fleet sales sheet, I bet they included those sales with the Malibu