Forgive Audi a little hubris. As Bertel Schmitt has explained, mere decades ago “the brand was thought ideal for high school teachers or tax collectors, who kept their hats on while driving.” To now be figuring in the nightmares of Daimler bosses clearly juices up the marketing staff no end. And though Audi may have won that MT comparo referenced in the ad above, BMW has held off the upstarts for at least one more quarter in the “friendly competition” over global sales numbers.
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Category: Sales
Friday’s announcement of mindblowing Chinese sales numbers must have had an effect on the minds of the reporting profession, as evidenced by a quick read of the news. They are all over the landscape. Read More >
China’s SAIC is basking in the glow of another bang-up quarter. China’s biggest automaker told Reuters that their first-quarter net profit rose more than four times from the year-ago result. Detailed numbers will be released with SAIC’s full first-quarter earnings report on April 28. Keep in mind that last year’s results already were 9 times those of 2008. In March, SAIC sold 336,387 units, sales for the first quarter were up 64 percent from a year earlier to 891,795 units. To put it into perspective: All of Germany sold 670,410 cars in the first three months of 2010. SAIC singlehandedly outsold Germany by 221,385 units. Read More >
Yesterday, we admitted to the sin of a faulty prognosis: More than a week ago, we had forecasted a March growth rate between 50 and 60 percent for the Chinese auto market. Yesterday, the number came in as 63 percent. Shame on us. However, yesterday’s number was passenger vehicles only. Our patent-pending forecasting model covers all cars. Now, the real number is in. Read More >
A week ago, we swam against the trend of China analysts who predicted a 30-40 percent rise in March new car sales in the Middle Kingdom. By using our patent-pending TTAC forecasting methodology, we projected China’s sales rising between 50 and 60 percent in March. The numbers are in. We were wrong. Read More >
When all this SUA happened to Toyota, many predicted that Toyota was on a downward spiral to assured destruction. Well, turns out rumours of their death were a bit premature. In February, Toyota achieved record sales in Australia and Canada and their decline in the United States, was a lot less than many had predicted. In March, Toyota’s sales (with the help of some incentives, which were below industry average) grew. Now Toyota can add the UK to the mix. Read More >
Underpinning further indications that the luxury segment is climbing off its death bed, Audi just announced amazing numbers for the first quarter of 2010. Audi just had the best quarter in recorded Audi history. Audi’s worldwide sales climbed by 26 percent in the first three months of 2010, writes Das Autohaus [sub]. In March, the four-ringed daughter of Volkswagen sold 110.400 – never had Audi sold so many cars in a single month. And who’s buying all those Audis? Read More >
A while ago, we predicted that China’s March new car sales might exceed expectations. We came to that conclusion by reading the usually reliable tea-leaves of the March GM sales. They came in at 68 percent above March 2009. Using them as an indicator, growth of overall March sales in China could be in the 50 to 60 percent range. Analysts polled by Reuters think the number will be 30 – 40 percent. It looks like they are wrong. Read More >
Have you ever seen a junkie on withdrawal? Not a pretty sight. This is what the German car market looks like. Taken off Abwrackprämien-money, cold turkey has got Germany on the run. According to just released data of the German Kraftfahrtbundesamt, March 2010 new car registrations in Germany are 26.6 percent below March 2009. Read More >
Conspicuous consumption gradually is becoming socially agreeable again around the world, or so it seems. Germany’s auto motor und sport cornered Mercedes-Benz Cars sales chief Joachim Schmidt at the New York Auto Show. Schmidt said “we are probably going to reach a plus of more than 10 percent in global vehicle sales in the first quarter.” Why the sudden growth? Read More >
Didn’t BMW make noises that they “want to be the number 1 luxury carmaker in the United States by 2012?“ If that’s still the case, then the boys from Bavaria better get their act together. Currently, they don’t look so good. In the March 2010 sales round-up, they came in with a measly 3 percent growth, while the market grew 24 percent. Then, as Automotive News [sub] points out, there is a dark horse: Read More >
Flights are delayed, so let’s hear Toyota’s take on on March sales: “We out-retailed both Ford and GM by nearly 40,000 units,”according to Don Esmond, head of automotive operations at TMS USA. “Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. sold more vehicles to retail customers than any other automaker.”
In an article at Automotive News [sub], Toyota makes the case that the momentum is back, and that its incentive programs for March didn’t steal forward sales, but picked up those waiting on the sidelines during the recalls. And the incentives are not about to stop now. “Toyota Division boss Bob Carter said the New York auto show that the company has no plans to halt incentives. “Short-term, we gotta sell cars.'” Read More >
It’s that time of the month again: In the first days of the month, market observers in China eagerly await the GM China sales number. GM usually is first to report. What’s more, GM is the canary in the (ooops) Chinese coal mine, a very good indicator for the overall market. Looking back at March, that canary happily tweets that GM’s March sales in China, including Wuling vans, accelerated 68 percent to 230,048 units. Shanghai GM’s sales of Buicks, Chevys, and a few Cadillacs rose 89 percent annually to 86,967 units. That according to Associated Press. This is another record Middle Kingdom month for GM, the 15th in a row, and it indicates a March surprise for the Chinese market. Read More >
We no longer have the dubious honor of leading this category. We’ve been down that road before, and we know it’s a dead end.
We didn’t listen to GM’s monthly sales call today, but it we had, we would have been even more likely to screw up the headline for Edmund’s incentive report [ed: for which we deeply apologize]. The cognitive dissonance between Susan Docherty’s triumphalist quote and Edmunds’ harsh version of reality left even Automotive News [sub] scratching its head. “GM says it avoided spiff frenzy — but Edmunds numbers beg to differ,” runs the shit-starting headline. Docherty claims that GM pays a mere $2,800 in incentives per vehicle, far short of Edmunds’ chart-topping $3,519 “true cost.” So what gives? Well, GM’s numbers do come from JD Power…
Edmunds [via Earth Times] has released its monthly “True Cost of Incentives” list, and GM tops the list, followed closely by Chrysler and Ford. Good thing Sergio Marchionne narrowly avoided “getting pulled into an incentive war.” That Chrysler’s sales couldn’t beat last March’s numbers even with these incentives tells you everything you need to know about the state of play in Auburn Hills. Oh, and how is GM’s incentive “leadership” supposed to jive with marketing boss Susan Docherty’s insistence [via the WSJ [sub]] that GM is reigning in its incentives? Who knows. Meanwhile, Ford’s impressive 2010 numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt in light of the Blue Oval’s continuing dependence on spiffs and fleet sales (speaking of which, fleet numbers are up 64 percent at GM, and Ford had a 30 percent-ish fleet mix in March[ via FT]). In fact, Toyota’s much-vaunted move towards incentives seems to not only have helped its sales, it may have also scared Detroit back into some nasty old habits.
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