I did it! I managed to make the last clue for the ’67 Electra convertible hard enough. Or was it the fact that the red taillight lens looked black because it was in the shade on a bright high-contrast picture? Oh well. You guys gave it quite the effort. Let’s see how you do with this one.
We love us some data here at TTAC, and since we’re already looking at a grip of sales data today, we thought we’d add this excellent infographic that appeared in Sunday’s New York Times to the mix. It depicts America’s per-capita miles driven on the x-axis, and the price of gasoline on the y-axis, and shows that the two aren’t as inextricably linked as some might have thought. As we try to make sense of monthly sales data and look for “the new normal,” this kind of data provides a crucial context for month-by-month trends. We hope you find it as enjoyable and illuminating as we did.
The Volkswagen brand grew sales across all nameplates other than the Chrysler-rebadge Routan minivan, en route to a 42 percent overall volume increase. Audi maintained its momentum, with a 33 percent improvement over its 2009 sales, on strong sales from the A5 and Q5. The new E-Class drove the Mercedes brand to a 21 percent improvement, although Smart was down nearly 50 percent to 680 units. Despite 50+ percent drops in 5- and 6-Series volume, BMW managed to hang onto a nine percent volume increase, including a five percent improvement by the MINI brand. Ze Germans may be focused on China in the long term, but for now they’re back to methodically growing their US-market business.
These three are continuing the trend established some months ago: Subaru strongly outperforming the market; Nissan somewhat ahead of it; and Suzuki trailing it substantially. All Subarus were up except the Tribeca, which is clearly in its fade out period. The Outback was up 133%.
Nissan showed the most balanced increase, with the same increase for both cars (+34%) and trucks (+34%). All the cars did well, with Versa up 44%, Sentra plus 38%, Altima up 23% and Maxima up 25%. The Cube is selling decently at about 2k units per month. Truck sales were also up fairly evenly, with Frontier (+60%) and Rogue (+38%) being two of the stronger models.
Suzuki’s models all swooned, and the story would be a disaster except for the Kizashi, which posted a rip roaring 406 units sold.
Charts follow: Read More >
Looks like Honda will be stuck near the bottom of the market in April, under performing with a 12.5% rise. Honda Division was up 11.7%; Acura up 21.6%. The problem is with the cars: Honda’s were down 1.4%, while trucks saved their bacon with a 41% increase. The Fit eked out a 14% increase, but the Civic slipped 5%. Accord was up 9%. Pilot (+42%), CR-V (+37), Odyssey (+14%) and even the Ridgeline (+46%) kept the Honda from the red.
Acura cars were also weak, but the MDX and RDX both showed over 50% increases. The new ZDX sold 234 units. Read More >
Chrysler saw its sales increase 25 percent last month, for its best year-over-year performance in “almost five years,” according to the company. On the other hand, sales improved only 3 percent compared to last March’s results and only barely met Chrysler’s 95k minimum sales goal (at 95,703 units). Still, this is the best sales news the company has had since well before emerging from bankruptcy. For those who think Chrysler has a shot at survival, this is the first evidence in a long time that actually supports their optimism.
Nothing like igniting sales with the spark of incentives. Toyota appears to be pacing in line with most of the market, posting a 24.4% rise for April. The Toyota brand was up 24%; Lexus jumped 29%. Again reflecting a shift back to more utilities and trucks, cars were up a more modest 18%, light trucks 33%. Toyota cars were paced by the Prius and Corolla, both up 50%, while Camry had to get by with a 10% rise. Even the Avalon got a rise from its refresh, up 36%. On the downside, the Yaris tumbled by 53% and all three Scions were in the red again. In the truck sector, the Rav4 increased by 34% and the long-languishing Tundra showed sign of life with a 45% boost.And the new 4Runner ran with 204% climb. Detailed chart: Read More >
The ironic rap video… yeah, there’s something the potential minivan driver will find hip and edgy.
Ford continued its momentum in April, if perhaps not at quite the blistering pace as in the past few months. In a clear indication of how the market is returning to a more pre-recession composition, car sales were up only 10%, while utilities jumped 33% and trucks 38%. The F-Series had a very strong month, topping 40k units with a 42% rise. Ford also increased its ratio of retail to fleet sales, with retail sales up 32% and fleet a more modest 13%. Ford is also crowing about resale values being up 23% versus last year. In terms of brands, Ford was up 26%, Mercury 19%, and Lincoln 22%. Not exactly a knock-out month, but another strong showing. Details follow: Read More >
Hyundai and Kia kept up their winning ways last month, combining for a 24 percent sales increase. Most of the increase comes courtesy of the Hyundai brand, which rose 30 percent on strong sales of the new Tucson and Sonata (up 271 and 57 percent respectively) and Santa Fe (+59 percent). Kia’s volume was largely boosted by its new Sorento SUV, which sold 8,486 units, and a strong rise in Soul sales volume. Forte sold 5,807 units, but didn’t outperform last April’s 7,165 sales of its predecessor, the Spectra. Full numbers after the jump.
For yet another month, GM’s sales [full April sales report in XLS format here, press release here] managed to be both promising and disappointing, depending on how you cut them. GM’s “core brands” were up 20 percent cumulatively, with Cadillac and Buick leading the way with 35.7 percent and 36.4 percent increases respectively (Chevy up 17.4 percent, GMC up 18.4 percent). And though GM is especially eager to boost sales numbers at its two premium brands, thanks to their low baseline sales, the solid percentage gains resulted in surprisingly small volume improvements. The General’s overall volume was up only 6.5 percent compared to April 2009, a month when the just-canceled Pontiac outsold both Buick and Caddy.
GM’s restructuring of its Opel division has long been seen as one of the greatest threats to The General’s US taxpayer-supplied cash pile, and the bleeding has now officially started. Reuters reports that GM has agreed to pay four hundred million Euros ($532,000) for worker termination benefits as it closes operations at its Opel plant in Antwerp, Belgium. The 2,600 employees who once built Opel Astras at the factory will be out of work by the end of the year, with about 1,250 planned to be terminated by June. The Flemish government has until September to find a new investor for the plant location; if it is successful, and the new tenant rehires the former Opel workers, GM could be off the hook for some of their termination costs. Considering that Europe has some of the worst auto overcapacity around though, the odds of another automaker taking over the plant don’t look good. Which means the fate of Opel’s Flemish workers, and the health of GM’s cash pile are likely in the hands of a non-auto industry investor. Meanwhile, with Opel planning on cutting 20 percent of its European capacity, the bleeding is only just beginning. But hey, is there a better use for American tax dollars than paying off European workers to the tune of $205k per job?
The AP [via Google] reports that NHTSA’s investigation of the pedals manufactured by CTS that were behind Toyota’s recent unintended acceleration recall has widened to include 2007 model-year Dodge Calibers. Dodge built 161,000 Calibers in the 2007 model-year, but according to Chrysler Group complaints of sticking accelerators only cover about 10,000 vehicles built between March and April of 2006… even though all 2007 model-year vehicles were built with CTS pedals. So what’s the difference between vehicles made in that five-week period and the rest of the 2007 model-year? According to Chrysler spokesfolks:
We have data that is telling us that there were a certain amount of complaints during that time period
Andy writes:
TTAC: I have a question. My fiancée owns a 2008 Audi A4 2.0T with just under 15,000 miles on it. Tonight, the low oil indicator light came. So I said I’d get it checked out tomorrow. But before doing that, I figured I’d do a quick search to search about other A4 owners having oil issues. Turns out, they are. Both on topix.com and facebook.com, there are posts regarding the 2008 A4 2.0T burning a unexpected amount of oil and essentially Audi dealership and corporate claiming this is normal for turbo engines.
What do you guys think? Have you heard of this?
Chevrolet has had a difficult time deciding if its Cruze-based MPV, known as the Orlando, is a good fit for the US-market. Initially, Chevy debuted the Orlando concept at the Paris auto show, and said it had no plans for a US-market version. Then it was approved for the US ahead of the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, and now, according to Automotive News [sub], it’s off again. The (up to) seven-passenger MPV, built on GM’s “Delta II” compact architecture will be sold in Europe, Asia, and even Canada… just not in the US. Chevy spokesfolks explain:
The best thing to do for Chevrolet is to focus on the brands we’ve already brought to market: the Traverse, Equinox, Malibu and, soon to come, the Cruze. We feel that with those vehicles, Chevrolet has plenty of options for the modern family.
Of course, Chevy sells all three of those vehicles in Canada as well… so how are these three options “plenty” for US consumers, but not for our friendly neighbors to the North?
Recent Comments