Updated with Ford, Lincoln, and Ford Motor Company results.
Delayed by a fire at the automaker’s Michigan headquarters, Ford Motor Company sales figures weren’t released until this morning, a day after every other automaker issues their monthly reports.
Now, with Ford numbers included, the auto industy lost 6 percent of its October volume in 2016, a year-over-year loss of more than 86,000 units that’s causing observers to question the likelihood of a second consecutive annual sales record for the U.S. auto industry. Ford’s 12-percent drop in October certainly didn’t help.The industry worked with only 26 selling days in October 2016, two fewer than in October 2015. This means the daily selling rate across the industry grew by slightly more than 1 percent, undeniably helped by incentives that grew 16 percent, year-over-year, according to TrueCar.
In pure volume terms, the biggest percentage improvement among volume brands was reported by Ram, sales of which grew 11.5 percent to nearly 50,000 units. But total Fiat Chrysler Automobiles sales slid 10 percent because of significant losses at Chrysler and Dodge. Alfa Romeo sales plunged 60 percent, albeit inconsequentially. Jeep volume slid 7 percent, its second consecutive monthly decline after nearly three years of consistent growth.
Mercedes-Benz scored a huge win in the luxury sector with a 3,856-unit victory over second-ranked Lexus. But sales at Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, BMW, Cadillac, Acura, Volvo, and Land Rover decreased compared with October 2015.
America’s top-selling automobile manufacturer, General Motors, which reported a 1.7-percent loss, said the automaker’s four brands combined for a 2.5-percent retail sales gain. GM says 81 percent of Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC sales in October were produced in the retail environment.
| Auto Brand | October 2016 | October 2015 | % Change | 2016 YTD | 2015 YTD | % Change |
|
Acura
|
12,869 | 16,079 | -20.0% | 132,596 | 148,098 | -10.5% |
|
Alfa Romeo
|
23 | 58 | -60.3% | 441 | 569 | -22.5% |
|
Audi
|
17,721 | 17,700 | 0.1% | 169,900 | 165,103 | 2.9% |
|
BMW
|
24,017 | 29,439 | -18.4% | 254,150 | 279,395 | -9.0% |
|
Buick
|
20,046 | 18,660 | 7.4% | 189,813 | 186,387 | 1.8% |
|
Cadillac
|
13,948 | 15,391 | -9.4% | 133,234 | 141,090 | -5.6% |
|
Chevrolet
|
181,964 | 183,464 | -0.8% | 1,713,876 | 1,779,646 | -3.7% |
|
Chrysler
|
14,181 | 25,663 | -44.7% | 200,678 | 266,094 | -24.6% |
|
Dodge
|
41,514 | 49,683 | -16.4% | 436,454 | 438,129 | -0.4% |
|
Fiat
|
2,622 | 3,464 | -24.3% | 27,721 | 34,477 | -19.6% |
| Ford | 178,623 | 204,620 | -12.7% | 2,075,481 | 2,096,138 | -1.0% |
|
Genesis
|
1,201 | — | — | 3,909 | — | — |
|
GMC
|
42,668 | 45,478 | -6.2% | 434,100 | 455,717 | -4.7% |
|
Honda
|
113,292 | 115,572 | -2.0% | 1,221,945 | 1,172,119 | 4.3% |
|
Hyundai
|
61,304 | 60,005 | 2.2% | 646,284 | 638,195 | 1.3% |
|
Infiniti
|
11,208 | 11,143 | 0.6% | 107,983 | 106,711 | 1.2% |
|
Jaguar
|
3,219 | 988 | 226% | 23,568 | 12,204 | 93.1% |
|
Jeep
|
68,826 | 73,705 | -6.6% | 775,932 | 707,351 | 9.7% |
|
Kia
|
48,977 | 50,044 | -2.1% | 540,741 | 526,024 | 2.8% |
|
Land Rover
|
5,532 | 7,199 | -23.2% | 59,923 | 55,602 | 7.8% |
|
Lexus
|
24,803 | 26,436 | -6.2% | 260,996 | 273,881 | -4.7% |
|
Lincoln
|
9,069 | 8,485 | 6.9% | 89,504 | 82,449 | 8.6% |
|
Maserati
|
1,304 | 1,165 | 11.9% | 9,460 | 9,541 | -0.8% |
|
Mazda
|
22,711 | 25,451 | -10.8% | 246,978 | 267,157 | -7.6% |
|
Mercedes-Benz °
|
28,659 | 28,952 | -1.0% | 277,863 | 278,842 | -0.4% |
|
Mercedes-Benz Vans °
|
2,724 | 2,799 | -2.7% | 27,880 | 23,073 | 20.8% |
|
Total Mercedes-Benz °
|
31,383 | 31,751 | -1.2% | 305,743 | 301,915 | 1.3% |
|
Mini
|
3,954 | 4,087 | -3.3% | 42,865 | 49,061 | -12.6% |
|
Mitsubishi
|
7,637 | 7,426 | 2.8% | 81,988 | 80,683 | 1.6% |
|
Nissan
|
102,312 | 104,904 | -2.5% | 1,188,561 | 1,131,824 | 5.0% |
|
Porsche
|
4,506 | 4,070 | 10.7% | 44,752 | 43,370 | 3.2% |
|
Ram
|
49,443 | 44,325 | 11.5% | 449,743 | 404,602 | 11.2% |
|
Smart
|
418 | 721 | -42.0% | 4,462 | 6,153 | -27.5% |
|
Subaru
|
53,760 | 51,629 | 4.1% | 500,647 | 480,331 | 4.2% |
|
Scion °
|
376 | 6,270 | -94.0% | 53,834 | 45,471 | 18.4% |
|
Toyota °
|
161,116 | 171,339 | -6.0% | 1,693,884 | 1,752,094 | -3.3% |
|
Toyota/Scion
|
161,492 | 177,609 | -9.1% | 1,747,718 | 1,797,569 | -2.8% |
|
Volkswagen
|
24,779 | 30,387 | -18.5% | 256,047 | 294,602 | -13.1% |
|
Volvo
|
6,340 | 7,422 | -14.6% | 64,872 | 53,803 | 20.6% |
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
|
BMW-Mini
|
27,971 | 33,526 | -16.6% | 297,015 | 328,456 | -9.6% |
|
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
|
176,609 | 196,898 | -10.3% | 1,890,969 | 1,851,222 | 2.1% |
|
DaimlerAG
|
31,801 | 32,472 | -2.1% | 310,205 | 308,068 | 0.7% |
|
Ford Motor Co.
|
187,692 | 213,105 | -11.9% | 2,164,985 | 2,178,587 | -0.6% |
|
General Motors
|
258,626 | 262,993 | -1.7% | 2,471,023 | 2,562,840 | -3.6% |
|
Honda Motor Co.
|
126,161 | 131,651 | -4.2% | 1,354,541 | 1,320,217 | 2.6% |
|
Hyundai-Kia
|
111,482 | 110,049 | 1.3% | 1,192,135 | 1,164,219 | 2.4% |
|
Jaguar-Land Rover
|
8,751 | 8,187 | 6.9% | 83,491 | 67,806 | 23.1% |
|
Nissan Motor Co.
|
113,520 | 116,047 | -2.2% | 1,296,544 | 1,238,535 | 4.7% |
|
Toyota Motor Corp.
|
186,295 | 204,045 | -8.7% | 2,008,714 | 2,071,450 | -3.0% |
|
Volkswagen Group *
|
47,318 | 52,278 | -9.5% | 472,486 | 504,992 | -6.4% |
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
|
Industry Total
|
1,370,721
|
1,456,979
|
-5.9%
|
14,472,007
|
14,513,762
|
-0.3% |
Source: Manufacturers
[Image Source: Ford]
* Volkswagen Group includes sales figures for Audi, Bentley, Porsche, and Volkswagen brands
° Mercedes-Benz USA releases sales figures for the Mercedes-Benz brand in the conventional sense, vans excluded, as well as totals for the Metris and Sprinter vans. The complete picture is included here.
° Scion’s sales figures are now folded in to Toyota’s, but the Scion brand here includes sales of outgoing Scions as well as Scions that are becoming Toyotas. We have included the complete picture for clarity’s sake.
** Industry total takes into account Automotive News figures/estimates for brands such as Tesla (2,250 October units) and other low-volume, high-priced manufacturers.
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures.
Jeep is down two months in a row – it’s the start of the Apocalypse!
Jeepocalypse.
Still up 10% for the year thou. Have to see what happens in the next 2 months if it doesn’t level off they may have issues.
We have a story questioning Ford’s business plan and now sales figures can’t be released due to a fire?
Are those Black Hawks I hear disappearing in the night?
Time to break out the “aluminum” foil hats.
Carpocalypse Now!
The fire was real, I had heard from some folks at Ford stores that yesterday was a mess as they could not ‘punch’ sales due to the mainframe or something of the like being down due to a fire.
it took down several systems, and the WHQ lobby was still a bit stinky yesterday.
Amazing what having an SUV did for Jaguar’s numbers.
Look at Jaguar go.
Kind of depressing that Jaguar has to make SUVs to be successful but hey ho.
BMW, Land Rover and Volvo numbers look odd. Why the sudden drop in Premium car sales?
interesting footnote on Tesla’s October sales. Only 2,250? Think production was shut down for a week, maybe two? Still, looks like they really did pull forward sales to make Q3 look better. Going to have to really go to town in November and December to hit 25,000 in Q4.
You mean “includes sales of outgoing Scions as well as Scions that are becoming Toyotas” but I think everyone will figure it out
Indeed.
Go Buick!
People are snapping up those Veranos on sale before they’re all gone!
Lexus beat VW.
In a few months time, Buick will beat VW.
…GM says 81 percent of Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC sales in October were produced in the retail environment…
Wow – that is a HUGE change from a decade ago. Not all of that 19% that was fleet is “bad” fleet either – e.g. rental agencies.
GM reduced their rental sales by 8,000 as part of their stated plan. It was the difference between a yoy increase or decrease
Yeah if you can manage to get better margins more power to them.
Interesting. New A4 and new Q7, yet Audi is basically flat.
That leaves them in much better shape than BMW.
Acura and Lexus are also down significantly. Staying even in this market is pretty good performance honestly.
There’s a new A4 ?
When your new sausages looks pretty much like your old sausages then you won’t get much of a sales bump on introduction of the new menu. Ditto BMW, I can hardly tell one generation from the last these days. At least Bangle threw a bit of spice into the recipe, even if it was at times unpalatable.
Here in New England they seem to be going out of style. Very popular from 2002 until a couple years ago. Most of the people I know who had one have either gone back to BMW or moved on to semi premium SUVS. (RDX, MDX,GX,RX etc)
A 2.9% increase over 2015, which was also a good year, is flat to you? The A4 has only been available since the second half of the year, and it’s safe to assume that sales of the B8 platform A4/A5 tanked prior to the new A4/A5 being offered. I guarantee that Audi is happy with their numbers.
Maybe Wrangler prices will finally come down.
Keep dreaming.
There is some point to that thou. Wranglers and the higher trim GC’s don’t seem to have huge discount around here, if they want to move more there room for incentives.
Woohoo, one of those Lexus units is mine! RX F-Sport.
The report I saw elsewhere said that they expected the Ford numbers to be down ~2% not 11%.
And now that the numbers are out Ford is down less than 1%.
What’s up with Volvos downward trend? I thought they were killing it.
Sjalabais,
I think the S60, V60, XC60, and XC70 are winding down. Their replacements should be here within a year.
If it’s anything like the XC90 and S90 launch, Volvo is limiting supply of the outgoing models in order to avoid a glut of discounted cars. I’m sure their dealers are happy selling new models at full price.
Makes a lot of sense – even though I expected these outgoing models to be slow sellers at any rate (S80 included).
What trend? This was Volvo’s first monthly YOY decline since April of last year.
Ah, thanks for clearing that up!
I’ve done my part to help VW….bought 3 VW’s since August. A 2016 Passat R-Line, a 2016 GTI and now a 2017 Passat R-Line. No more cars. Sorry VW, I’m tapped out.
How long do you plan to keep those VWs? At least someone is buying them!
Do you trade them in after 4 years or are you a sadist?