Chrysler sales weather winter storms
March 3rd, 2010
Chrysler confounded industry analysts yesterday. Predictions of another sales drop, possibly as high as 20%, failed to materialize as Chrysler posted a small 0.5% improvement in sales, surpassing both Nissan and Honda to take the No. 4 position in the February sales ranks and regaining the No. 5 position in year-to-date (YTD) results. Sales of the Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Town & County, up 4% and 7%, respectively, put gave the Chrysler minivans the top two slots in the minivan segment for the month and the Caravan took over the top spot in YTD sales. Chrysler also placed the vehicles, Charger, Ram and Caravan, in the top 20 best-sellers for the month.
With passenger car sales up 38 percent, it’s no secret that fleet sales played a major role in Chrysler’s February results. However, even light truck sales were off by just 10 percent, so the likelihood is that even without big sales to the rental car companies Chrysler would have beaten the analysts’ consensus.
Chrysler also spent far less on incentives than the record $5,608 dished out last February; last month’s average of $3,388 was about 13% more than was spent in January 2010, but nearly 40% less than last year. It was also 1.4% less than General Motors spent last month.
Industry-wide, sales weren’t as bad as feared. Winter storms and Toyota’s problems did put a damper on results, but sales were still up 13.3% from February 2009. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate (SAAR) of 10.38 million was the lowest since last September but well ahead of the anemic 9.17 million recorded in February 2009.
Perhaps the biggest industry news was Ford passing GM for the first time since August 1998, when GM sales were crippled by a strike. The margin was small, just 471 sales, and Ford is still over 29,000 sales behind GM for the first two months of 2010, but it’s a sign the race between the blue oval and its slimmed-down rival is going to be closer in the future. Ford, which posted a 43.4% improvement, is on a roll with broad consumer acceptance of new models and a high public approval rating because it avoided a government handout. The Fusion continues to be a strong model, coming in as the best-selling American-badged car for February, and the new Taurus is easily outperforming its lackluster predecessor. Ford is once again the best-selling nameplate by both monthly and YTD numbers and the F-Series looks to be off to yet another year as the best-selling vehicle in America.
General Motors enjoyed a 12.2% increase in sales, thanks to a significant uptick in fleet purchasing. All four of its core brands reported double-digit gains and good sales of the new crossover vehicles like the Equinox and Terrain. The Malibu holds the YTD lead among American-badged passenger cars and the Cobalt provides good support. At this point, it does look like GM is managing to hold on to a fair number of buyers who would have previously bought one of the General’s now-discontinued brands. It remains to be seen whether the frequent shakeups of GM’s senior management will produce the results CEO Ed Whitacre is demanding, but for now GM seems to be on the road to recovery.
Even though it posted the largest volume drop of any automaker, Toyota’s February sales beat analysts estimates. While Toyota brand sales dropped 8.7% and division sales fell 10.6% that was less than the declines foreseen in the prognosticators’ crystal balls. Lexus sales increased by 5.2% though that was only good enough for an unaccustomed third place in the luxury segment. The recalls and controversies surrounding Toyota, while they will cost the company billions in the short term, don’t seem to be having as much impact as had been expected and it seems likely the top Japanese automaker will remain a strong contender for the top spot in American light vehicle sales.
Honda was a major beneficiary of Toyota’s troubles, reporting sales 12.7% ahead of February 2009. The Accord is now the best-selling passenger car in the land and the Odyssey is still a strong contender in the minivan market. Driven by a 64.9% leap in MDX sales, Honda’s upscale Acura brand outperformed the parent brand with a 16.7% sales gain.
Even though it dropped back to No. 6 in the rankings, Nissan finished February with the best margin of the three largest Japanese automakers, up 29.4 percent. In YTD sales the Altima sedan is second only to the Accord and the Versa is doing extremely well; sales of the little Nissan hatch/sedan were up 130.1% for February and are up 74.4% for the first two months of the year.
Subaru came in with another sales record, this time a record February. Sales of the Outback more than tripled as it drove Subaru sales up 38 percent for the month. Mazda sales improved for the fourth consecutive month thanks in large part to a good showing by the Mazda3. Despite good sales of the Galant and Endeavor, Mitsubishi sales came up short again, missing their February 2009 mark by 10.4 percent. Suzuki sales plunged 60.7% as weak turnover of the Grand Vitara and SX4 overwhelmed the numbers for the new Kizashi and Equator pickup.
Kia popped in with another monthly sales record as the 2011 Sorentos left dealer lots in big numbers. Kia sales rose 9.0% last month while Hyundai’s rose 11% which was good, but not enough for the record books.
Volkswagen continued to pad its position as the best-selling European brand in the U.S. Improved sales of the Jetta, Passat and Tiguan combined with nice results from the new GTI to boost VW sales 32.6 percent. Not to be outdone, Audi, VW’s upscale marque, reported sales climbed 33.6% as the Q5 found favor with upscale car buyers.
Mercedes-Benz took the top spot among luxury brands with sales up eight percent largely because of the new E-Class. Daimler’s Smart brand had another bad month: sales plummeted 60% to just 442 units. One wonders when Daimler will realize it might be smart to update a design that has already been on the world market for a dozen years.
BMW sales rose 16.3% thanks to good SUV sales. In February, BMW was second only to Mercedes among upscale brands but it’s in third place, behind Lexus, in YTD sales. Convertible sales boosted the Mini brand, leaving it 1.6% ahead of its year-ago numbers.
Rounding out the German automakers, Porsche squeaked by its 2009 numbers by 1.9% thanks to the Panamera and Cayenne. Cayman/Boxter and 911 sales were very soft last month which, considering the weather, may be no surprise.
Land Rover sales climbed 17.9% to over 2,000 units but Jaguar’s numbers were 4.2% behind February 2009.
Sales of ultra-premium cars continue to be soft as the well-to-do nurse their portfolios back to health. Only Bentley and Maserati were able to best their 2009 numbers.
With the hopeful advent of better weather and assuming the fragile recovery continues, March numbers should continue to show an improvement. With an SAAR of 9.73 million units, the hurdle is higher than February’s but not by much. Toyota is piling on the incentives, including five-year interest-free financing and the competition isn’t likely to slow up very much. It’s all part of the drive to get the American consumer back into the showroom.
Top 20 for February
1. Ford F-Series: 32,895
2. Honda Accord: 20,024
3. Chevrolet Silverado: 19,822
4. Toyota Corolla: 16,996
5. Toyota Camry: 16,552
6. Honda Civic: 16,471
7. Ford Fusion: 16,459
8. Nissan Altima: 16,198
9. Ford Escape: 15,156
10. Chevrolet Malibu: 15,150
11. Chevrolet Cobalt: 14,101
12. Ford Focus: 13,708
13. Honda CR-V: 11,828
14. Chevrolet Impala: 11,740
15. Nissan Versa: 11,609
16. Dodge Charger: 10,363
17. Dodge Ram: 10,267
18. Dodge Caravan: 9,390
19. Subaru Legacy/Outback: 8,804
20. Ford Edge: 8,694
Top 20 in YTD sales
1. Ford F-Series: 60,525
2. Chevrolet Silverado: 42,594
3. Honda Accord: 39,046
4. Nissan Altima: 34,834
5. Toyota Corolla: 34,117
6. Toyota Camry: 32,344
7. Chevrolet Malibu: 31,589
8. Honda Civic: 31,164
9. Ford Fusion: 28,638
10. Chevrolet Cobalt: 27,063
11. Ford Escape: 25,909
12. Ford Focus: 24,097
13. Chevrolet Impala: 22,679
14. Honda CR-V: 21,500
15. Ram Pickup: 20,224
16. Chevrolet Equinox: 17,574
17. Kia Sorento: 16,237
18. Hyundai Santa Fe: 15,168
19. Toyota Tacoma: 15,072
20. Ford Edge: 14,937
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Chrysler sales weather winter storms | Allpar Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep News
Chrysler sales weather winter
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