It’s too early to tell exactly how much the market for new cars rose in November, but it’s looking like double digit growth going into the holiday season. And while some brands seem to have been naughty last month (Subaru, Porsche, Lincoln, Buick and Cadillac all saw sales drop year-over-year), November couldn’t have been nicer for the Volkswagen and Chrysler Groups, which grew their volumes by 40 and 45 percent respectively. The Chrysler brand alone improved its volume a whopping 92 percent over last November’s admittedly weak numbers… Fiat, on the other hand, is still on the train to Flopsville. GM, meanwhile, has run into some trouble, growing a mere 7 percent, as declines by Buick and Caddy were only barely offset by modest growth at Chevy and GMC. Lincoln continues to freefall towards oblivion, dropping 18 percent to a mere 6,305 units, but strong Ford brand growth brought the Blue Oval’s result up to 13 percent year-over-year gain. Hit the jump for our evolving sales chart. [UPDATE: Chart now complete]
| Automaker | Nov. 2011 | Nov. 2010 | Pct. chng. | 11 month 2011 |
11 month 2010 |
Pct. chng. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BMW division | 21,521 | 20,097 | 7% | 221,073 | 196,833 | 12% |
| Mini | 4,750 | 2,786 | 71% | 51,800 | 41,324 | 25% |
| Rolls-Royce | 30 | 43 | –30% | 318 | 469 | –32% |
| BMW Group | 26,301 | 22,926 | 15% | 273,191 | 238,626 | 15% |
| Chrysler Division | 18,577 | 9,664 | 92% | 197,372 | 184,314 | 7% |
| Dodge | 30,317 | 21,246 | 43% | 409,492 | 351,285 | 17% |
| Dodge/Ram | 50,731 | 40,286 | 26% | 640,507 | 539,967 | 19% |
| Fiat | 1,618 | – | –% | 17,444 | – | –% |
| Jeep | 36,246 | 24,202 | 50% | 375,772 | 260,228 | 44% |
| Ram | 20,414 | 19,040 | 7% | 231,015 | 188,682 | 22% |
| Chrysler Group | 107,172 | 74,152 | 45% | 1,231,095 | 984,509 | 25% |
| Maybach | 4 | 5 | –20% | 48 | 58 | –17% |
| Mercedes-Benz | 27,841 | 19,037 | 46% | 234,473 | 203,475 | 15% |
| Smart USA | 414 | 211 | 96% | 4,498 | 5,357 | –16% |
| Daimler AG | 28,259 | 19,253 | 47% | 239,019 | 208,890 | 14% |
| Ford division | 160,136 | 133,162 | 20% | 1,856,166 | 1,578,773 | 18% |
| Ford/Lincoln/Mercury | 166,441 | 146,956 | 13% | 1,933,654 | 1,741,343 | 11% |
| Lincoln | 6,305 | –7,648 | –18% | 77,240 | 77,768 | –1% |
| Mercury | – | 6,146 | –100% | 248 | 84,802 | –100% |
| Volvo | – | – | –% | – | 32,525 | –100% |
| Ford Motor Co. | 166,441 | 146,956 | 13% | 1,933,654 | 1,773,868 | 9% |
| Buick | 10,880 | 11,725 | –7% | 162,659 | 138,294 | 18% |
| Cadillac | 11,145 | 11,801 | –6% | 136,130 | 130,207 | 5% |
| Chevrolet | 128,907 | 117,550 | 10% | 1,614,644 | 1,415,943 | 14% |
| GMC | 29,470 | 27,559 | 7% | 356,013 | 291,061 | 22% |
| Hummer | – | 25 | –100% | – | 3,774 | –100% |
| Pontiac | – | 7 | –100% | – | 1,052 | –100% |
| Saab | – | – | –% | – | 608 | –100% |
| Saturn | – | 3 | –100% | – | 6,613 | –100% |
| General Motors | 180,402 | 168,670 | 7% | 2,269,446 | 1,987,552 | 14% |
| Acura | 9,909 | 10,718 | –8% | 110,170 | 118,117 | –7% |
| Honda Division | 74,016 | 78,899 | –6% | 931,885 | 982,747 | –5% |
| Honda (American) | 83,925 | 89,617 | –6% | 1,042,055 | 1,100,864 | –5% |
| Hyundai division | 49,610 | 40,723 | 22% | 594,926 | 493,426 | 21% |
| Kia | 37,007 | 26,601 | 39% | 442,102 | 325,824 | 36% |
| Hyundai Group | 86,617 | 67,324 | 29% | 1,037,028 | 819,250 | 27% |
| Jaguar | 915 | 1,117 | –18% | 11,139 | 12,160 | –8% |
| Land Rover | 3,820 | 2,922 | 31% | 33,356 | 28,169 | 18% |
| Jaguar Land Rover | 4,735 | 4,039 | 17% | 44,495 | 40,329 | 10% |
| Maserati | 191 | 166 | 15% | 2,083 | 1,717 | 21% |
| Mazda | 18,432 | 15,304 | 20% | 228,073 | 208,087 | 10% |
| Mitsubishi | 3,735 | 4,306 | –13% | 73,988 | 50,809 | 46% |
| Infiniti | 8,428 | 8,182 | 3% | 87,471 | 90,909 | –4% |
| Nissan Division | 76,754 | 63,184 | 22% | 854,136 | 723,931 | 18% |
| Nissan | 85,182 | 71,366 | 19% | 941,607 | 814,840 | 16% |
| Porsche | 2,255 | 2,416 | –7% | 27,189 | 22,753 | 20% |
| Saab Cars North America | 356 | 397 | –10% | 5,340 | 3,764 | 42% |
| Subaru | 17,657 | 20,792 | –15% | 233,288 | 237,126 | –2% |
| Suzuki | 1,822 | 2,332 | –22% | 24,053 | 21,347 | 13% |
| Lexus | 19,458 | 18,240 | 7% | 173,197 | 201,769 | –14% |
| Scion | 3,553 | 3,834 | –7% | 45,112 | 41,722 | 8% |
| Toyota division | 114,949 | 107,243 | 7% | 1,248,220 | 1,342,616 | –7% |
| Toyota/Scion | 118,502 | 111,077 | 7% | 1,293,332 | 1,384,338 | –7% |
| Toyota | 137,960 | 129,317 | 7% | 1,466,529 | 1,586,107 | –8% |
| Audi | 9,700 | 9,365 | 4% | 104,906 | 91,083 | 15% |
| Bentley | 138 | 159 | –13% | 1,560 | 1,233 | 27% |
| VW division | 28,412 | 20,189 | 41% | 291,899 | 232,963 | 25% |
| Volkswagen | 38,250 | 29,713 | 29% | 398,365 | 325,279 | 23% |
| Volvo Cars NA | 4,844 | 4,078 | 19% | 61,898 | 16,667 | 271% |
| Other (estimate) | 250 | 243 | 3% | 2,716 | 2,654 | 2% |
| TOTAL | 994,786 | 873,367 | 14% | 11,535,112 | 10,445,038 | 10% |
Chrysler is really kicking butt. And that’s without a small car, wait until the new Dodge “Not-A-Hornet” sedan comes out. Chrysler used to be a big player in this segment, 2012 should be another good year for them.
A comeback of the Neon?
The name is still secret.
Two of the most unreliable rands are selling well, who can understand people?
Unless Ford INTENTIONALLY set out to destroy the Lincoln dealer body, dropping Mercury prematurely like they did is proving to be a disaster.
I think Ford was far deeper in crisis mode than they’d have liked people to believe when they dropped Mercury.
That, or maybe they’re going with the idea that Lincoln is currently so bad that anything else would be an improvement?
It depends. Does it cost more to run Mercury than to shutter it and do without the sales?
The L-M dealers could still be selling the Mariner and Milan, as their Ford counterparts (Escape and Fusion) won’t be replaced until next year. Dropping them prematurely, before Lincoln had anything new to sell, has left the L-M dealers with less than half of their former sales volume. Almost seems like Ford did this intentionally to wean the dealer body down without having to do expensive buyouts. Mercury versions of Fords were inexpensive grille/trim changes that surely didn’t cost Ford much to do.
I don’t see the point in standalone Lincoln dealers, or for that matter standalone dealers for any luxury brand that has a mass market parent company. Combination Ford-Lincoln stores make more sense because you can share the overhead for sales staff, service, local advertising, accounting, etc.
Hyundai is already doing this by introducing their luxury models under the same roof and same brand as their mainstream offerings. Nissan-Infiniti, Toyota-Lexus, and Chevrolet-Buick-Cadillac stores just make too much sense to ignore.
NulloModo:
The problem with dualing Lincoln with Ford is that snooty luxury buyers don’t want to hobnob with the “riff-raff”. A friend of a friend recently took his Lincoln in for service and they gave him an F-150 as a loaner. What a joke!
mjz –
Lincoln owners are supposed to get Lincoln loaners whenever they are authorized a loaner car, even in combined stores, so that particular dealer just wasn’t following the rules.
There’s no reason the showroom, service waiting area, etc, in a combined dealership can’t be as nice as the one in a standalone luxury dealership. The goal is to move the mass market brand experience up, not to drag the luxury brand experience down.
Man, I knew things were bad for Lincoln, but I didn’t know they took back 7648 cars in November 2010…I don’t know how else you could possibly explain negative sales?
(or…maybe…hint, hint…it was a TYPO?)
They might as well have taken them back, they have lost over HALF of their sales volume this year. Of course those new grilles on the MKT and MKS are really going to reverse their fortunes.
Actually, I think the waterfall grill works on the MKZ and MKX, but it seems out of proportion on the MKS, and don’t even get me started on the MKT. Certainly it got Farago going.
I have a feeling the new MKZ, which is based on the Euro-spec Mondeo, will be a solid car for them. With that, and the MKX, which is a pretty solid entry in the lux-CUV niche, they can begin to rebuild. The key will be what follows those cars. Do they even have a proper RWD platform to work with?
If people think the only changes on the new MKS and MKT are the new grills and MLT, then yes, there will be some problems. There needs to be an ad blitz about the new active suspension and torque vectoring technology plus the increased power and fuel economy to get people to realize these are more than just mild refreshes.
Whoever designed the butt-ugly Lincoln front end(grille) should be sent over Niagara Falls in a barrel. As should the people who approved it.
I don’t “photo-shop” but I would love to see someone photo-shop a Lincoln grille onto a Beemer or Merc just for laughs.
56Belaire:
A grille on a motorcycle would look pretty funny, don’t you think?
56BelAire:
A split baleen grille on a Merc? Ridiculous! ;-)
VW is proving that Americans really do like cheap plastic interiors and decontenting after all! That should be comforting to Honda with the new Civic.
VW sales increasing that much is not a huge surprise when you consider the Passat was not available last year so any sales now adds volume. If they continue like this they will probably get close to 400,000 units in 2012 – half way to their 2018 target.
The B6 Passat was available a year ago.
Urlik – yes it was but in minor numbers such that October and November 2011 sales have already surpassed the whole of 2010.
For what it’s worth, my friends Jetta 2.5 SE seems pretty nice inside. Not sure if the SE got a better interior than the base model, but it doesn’t bother me at all.
Then again, plastic interiors don’t necessarily bother me. It’s one less thing to catch hair that invariably follows me from my house of animals.
The SE has the same basic interior. The GLi has the upgraded plastics.
Chrysler roars, but on this day two years earlier…
December 1, 2009
“Chrysler’s niche-like volume is the killer here… and it’s relentlessly slipping away as the Pentastarred zombie crashes into oblivion
All in all, Chrysler continues to exhibit all the signs of freefall.
…it’s clear that nothing short of a biblical miracle will stop Chrysler ignominious decline.
Chrysler is a dead automaker walking.”
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2009/12/chrysler-november-sales-plummet-25-percent/
Maybe time for Ed to eat some crow.
Seems like that was an accurate analysis at the time to me…
Sounds to me more like the power of low expectations. It’s easy to rack up large sales increases when your sales where in the shitter a year ago.
Let’s see, my last few auto purchases were
Ford Ranger – dead in a week.
Mitsubishi Diamante – dead a decade almost
Pontiac Bonneville – What’s a Pontiac?
Ford T-Bird – Died, resurrected like Zombie Jesus, and died a second time
Chevy Caprice – Dust on the wind.
So I just bought a Chrysler 300C and… Ruh-Roh.
I have the same talent but it goes beyond cars. Was planning to buy Oldsmobile – dead, so I bought Mercury instead – dead nevertheless. For camera I bought a few Kodak p&s – become walking dead eventually, so I switched to Olympus m4/3 – and one year after – walking dead also. Now I am deciding which company to kill next. Any ideas? How about Honda :?
I was looking to buy Saturn Aura too before Saturn went bust. But I have nothing to do with Hummer and SAAB, so do not blame me. When FIAT brings Alfa-Romeo to US market I will be the first in line to buy one. I love Italian cars.
Living in coastal San Diego, it is hard to believe that Saab outsells Bentley. I see more Bentleys than Mitsubishis, almost all of them VW Phaetons in drag.
Most of Buick’s loss is attributable to dumping the Lucerne (down 55%), and Verano sales have just started (4 in November).
Most of Caddy’s loss is attributable to dumping the STS and DTS (down 69% and 81%, respectively), and the XTS that will replace them isn’t on sale yet.
No cause for concern here. Both brands are dumping old product, and new product is either just getting started (Verano) or not yet on sale (mini-Enclave, XTS, ATS, ELR).
Let’s hope you are right, because Buick’s November was not ALL that much better than Lincolns. When Buick’s monthly volume is a little more than half of Chrysler’s (and just a touch above Infiniti), this should be cause for concern.
I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that the Verano is not going to take up the slack left by the Lucerne. Lucernes were easy sales to traditional Buick customers. Verano? Going to be a tougher sale, I suspect.
All good points but Buick sales were 900 down from a year before. I think it is fair to assume the Verano sells more than that. For the year Buick sold over twice Lincoln’s volume so I think the brand is safe for now especially as GM have Cadillac too to carry the premium/luxury market whereas Ford has Lincoln. Ford should never have sold JLR.
As for Cadillac it was said for the past few months they have been reducing fleet sales to near zero in line with their supposed competition. This is the correct course of action even if it does mean small losses now.
Selling JLR was a good idea, but I think Ford should have structured the deal so that the IP stayed with Ford, and Tata only get the naming rights and the ability to sell the then current models until replacements could be developed.
A Town Car based on the XJ platform, Mark IX based on the XK, and a Lincoln Aviator based on the Range Rover could have given Lincoln top notch products that could have been built to high levels of reliability with Ford’s oversight.
True that, but I also have a feeling that some of the Cadillac, Buick and Lincoln “traditional” buyers may be switching over to the new Chrysler 300.
I traded my Jetta in for a Subaru Legacy earlier this week. I don’t know that Subaru is so much on the naughty list as much as they don’t have any inventory (earthquake related?). The dealer had to trade for my Legacy and had one other one in stock when I took delivery; earlier that morning the sales manager sold his company car (a Legacy with 3k miles on it). This was from a “large” Subaru store that does good business, and they had 15 new units total in stock. From what I understand most Subaru dealers are in a similar situation.
I believe the cupboard is bare at most major Subaru stores. I visited a large automall based one last weekend in Sacramento and they had a a whopping 5 cars in stock. I suspect once they get the supply chain running smoothly again in 6-9 months they will be back.
Is the new Focus a flop? Ford only sold 11,735 vs 13,030 last year. A 9.9% DECLINE. I think they are meeting pricing resistance, America may not be ready for the $25,000 Focus. With both sedan and hatchback models, sales should be much higher for the new model.
It’s a combination of factors. The new Focus is both prices higher in terms of MSRP and in terms of true cost given incentives than the previous version, to the tune of up to $5,000 different for similar levels of equipment. Big incentives on the outgoing Fusion model are also pulling up certain Focus buyers, while the Fiesta is taking sales from those who are shopping purely on price.
9.9% decline, sure. What do you want to bet that Ford’s profit margin on the $25000 focus went up astronomically compared to the old Focus?
It ain’t all about shoveling product out the door. It’s better to sell 10 cars at a $2000 profit than it is 30 cars at a $500 profit.
I still say Lincoln is finished after this “7 new or refreshed vehicles by 2014” baloney. That’ll play out with similar sales to what we’re seeing now, and it’ll all be over by 2020. We may even get the Mercury treatment: new compact SUV coming that never comes. It’ll all come down to the new MKZ which, with the shoestring budget Lincoln has, will look very familiar to the Fusion where it counts.
Unless Ford makes Lincoln an international luxury brand, I don’t see it existing much longer for the North American market only. They need to do a “Buick” and make it successful in China, or it’s doomed.
Volvo up 271% Year to date. Wow.
YTD sales of the 200 are up a cool 200% from the late and unlamented Sebring last year.
Not bad for a minor redesign and rebrand.
While not a full redesign, I don’t know if I’d call the redo of the formerly-known-as-Sebring nee 200 “minor.” I had one for a long weekend back around Halloween up in Detroit (go figure! Great place for it, what with the ads and all these days…oh, and my wife hails from Detroit, so extra-sweet spot there for her) and you know what? I actually liked it! The interior is miles ahead of what it was, and even with “only” the 4 banger and six-speed auto, it pulled away nicely, was comfortable and quiet under way and returned good fuel economy. The style may not be everybody’s cup o’tea, but in the gun-metal blue along with the 17″ rims, the car looked pretty nice. Ultimate compliment? I could see my mother being very happy in this car…
Sad though, to see that Lincoln barely is outselling Mitsubishi…I mean…really?
This is pretty funny too…the Durango? YTD is up 22,123% from 2010.
Wow, Hyundai outsold Honda. That is a benchmark event for sure. Honda has completely lost the plot while Hyundai has kept making each new vehicle design better than the one it replaced.
Chrysler’s recovery is also big news. The company so many people gave up for dead is living on as one very happy Zombie.
Saab: Who exactly bought those 300+ new Saabs in the US last month?