US New Car Sales March 2010: Up 24 Percent

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: April 1st, 2010

us new car sales march 2010 up 24 percent

Today, we were following Automotive News [sub] as they were filling their developing table of March 2010 sales. With all precincts having reported, the final number is +24 percent. But remember: We are comparing with the worst of carmageddon. At least, it looks like we are slowly turning the corner. However, the Chinese are way ahead of US. Data after the jump …

AutomakerMarch 2010March 2009Pct. chng.3 month

20103 month

2009Pct. chng.BMW Group21,69621,1523%55,12951,3257%Chrysler Group LLC92,623101,001-8%234,215247,208-5%Daimler AG20,71117,36219%51,99645,21315%Ford Motor Co.183,425131,10240%441,708323,19337%General Motors188,011155,33421%475,861409,70216%Honda (American)108,26288,37922%256,412230,98511%Hyundai Group77,52465,44518%188,205164,74714%Isuzu––-%–165-100%Jaguar Land Rover3,7093,4228%9,0918,5966%Maserati18911959%39427444%Mazda23,19321,9746%55,94153,7954%Mitsubishi5,4344,62018%13,62313,834-2%Nissan95,46866,63443%228,229174,76731%Porsche1,9051,7499%5,2224,9256%Saab Spyker

133–-%133–-%Subaru23,78516,24946%57,49441,53238%Suzuki2,2467,981-72%5,66115,131-63%Toyota186,863132,80141%385,686359,6707%VW30,86822,25439%79,90958,19537%Other (estimate)294306-4%882918-4%TOTAL1,066,339857,88424%2,545,7912,204,17515%

Source: Automotive News Data Center

#BertelSchmitt #March2010 #Sales

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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9 of 16 comments

Lilpoindexter on Apr 01, 2010

GO CHRYSLER! (he he he)

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Z4eva on Apr 01, 2010

Is this saying there were more Maseratis sold than Saabs? Really? Am I reading this wrong? And doesn't Maser technically belong in the same bucket as Chrysler now since they're both owned by Fiat? Anyway, what Ford's done is truly amazing. As someone who's know the Big 3 as crap-factories my entire life, I think Ford might be building a whole new generation of loyal customers. No bailouts helps, but leadership in hybrids (among US automakers at least) and in-car entertainment like Sync is even more important, IMO.

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Don1967 on Apr 01, 2010
But remember: We are comparing with the worst of carmageddon. Probably the most important sentence of this story. The "growth" being seen now is really just a partial recovery from last year, or worse, a dead-cat bounce before things get nasty again. You've gotta wonder if all the incentives and cash-for-clunkers merely sucked the next 3 years' worth of demand out of the market.

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- Jmo on Apr 01, 2010
  You’ve gotta wonder if all the incentives and cash-for-clunkers merely sucked the next 3 years’ worth of demand out of the market. It's didn't pull that much demand forward and it's not like cars don't continue to age, wear and break down with each passing day.
  
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- Johnthacker on Apr 02, 2010
  It’s didn’t pull that much demand forward and it’s not like cars don’t continue to age, wear and break down with each passing day. It pulled some demand forward from several months, and it's not like most new car buyers can't put off a car purchase for months or even years, even if cars do continue to age.
  
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Bancho on Apr 01, 2010

I don't see Smart listed here but on Autoblog I saw that they sold 677 vehicles in March 2010 vs. 1746 in March 2009. How do they survive like that? Are they going to end up as some weird social experiment? One of my coworkers owns one and he's pretty happy with it, but is it just so far removed from mainstream American market vehicles that it will just peter out and die after a couple years of availability? I guess being a 2-seater puts in a niche, then considering its' lack of sporting intent further pushed it into that niche.

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- Roundel on Apr 01, 2010
  
  I'm beyond happy with mine. But lets remember Americans have a very short attention span. The interest was high when gas prices were high. I think that interest will reignite once we gain some momentum in the economy and in turn raise engergy prices.
  
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- Bancho on Apr 01, 2010
  
  I'm just curious if Smart has the persistence to stick it out until (if?) things turn around for them. There's a Smart dealer less than a mile from my office and that place is a ghost town.
  
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- Bertel Schmitt on Apr 01, 2010
  
  Smarts, along with the huge volume of Maybachs, are included in the Daimler number. Just like Audi is included in the VW stats ....
  
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