May Sales: Great, But Not Great Enough For Spoiled Analysts

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

GM up 11 percent. Ford up 13 percent. Chrysler up 30 percent. Nissan up 21 percent. Volkswagen up 28 percent. Toyota up a whopping 87 percent. A few months ago, these numbers would have set champagne corks and fireworks flying. Today, these numbers were greeted by a communal meh and by stocks of automakers going south.

People who only read headlines may think the sky is falling. “May auto sales disappoint; demand slows,” headlines Reuters.

The numbers are great, but not good enough for high expectations, caused by optimistic forecasts and exuberant analyst notes. If you don’t meet sky-high expectations, you get slaughtered.

Ironically, falling gas prices are fingered to dissuade people from buying cars. Swiss bank UBS says that higher fuel prices in the first quarter prompted consumers to swap older, less fuel-efficient models to lock in fuel savings.

Also, there is fear that the pent-up demand is not what it was said to be. Students of car crises know that steep falls are usually followed by a sudden pop until the market finds its new groove. The fear is that sales in the past months were the pop, and that we are heading into the groove. Whatever the groove may be.

AutomakerMay 2012May 2011Pct. chng.5 month


20125 month


2011Pct. chng.BMW Group28,35326,4827%131,003116,80612% BMW division22,16820,6517%104,77992,06817% Mini6,1535,8016%26,06424,5886% Rolls-Royce32307%1601507%BMW Group28,35326,4827%131,003116,80612%Chrysler Group150,041115,36330%689,257519,53833% Chrysler Division29,67416,36481%140,89179,53977% Dodge45,79340,20014%217,263186,49717% Dodge/Ram72,16661,66717%334,636284,04818% Fiat4,0031,759128%16,7023,141432% Jeep44,19835,57324%197,028152,81029% Ram26,37321,46723%117,37397,55120%Chrysler Group150,041115,36330%689,257519,53833%Daimler AG25,26320,80022%117,25897,69220% Maybach4333%201533% Mercedes-Benz24,55620,30521%113,50795,45119% Smart USA70349243%3,7312,22668%Daimler AG25,26320,80022%117,25897,69220% Ford Motor Co. 215,699191,52913%933,179876,3217% Ford division208,425184,13013%898,761841,4317% Lincoln7,2747,399–2%34,41834,642–1% Mercury–––%–248–100%Ford Motor Co.215,699191,52913%933,179876,3217%General Motors245,256221,19211%1,066,9631,046,2752% Buick18,56515,57919%71,34778,731–9% Cadillac9,87111,623–15%50,68865,262–22% Chevrolet177,943161,40110%781,564747,7005% GMC38,87732,58919%163,364154,5826%General Motors245,256221,19211%1,066,9631,046,2752%Honda (American)133,99790,77348%576,174523,55010% Acura14,5869,00062%57,56651,97211% Honda Division119,41181,77346%518,608471,57810%Honda (American)133,99790,77348%576,174523,55010%Hyundai Group118,790107,42611%530,237463,64714% Hyundai division67,01959,21413%292,856263,58811% Kia51,77148,2127%237,381200,05919%Hyundai Group118,790107,42611%530,237463,64714%Jaguar Land Rover4,5134,1628%22,86519,16119% Jaguar1,0751,271–15%5,4765,0219% Land Rover3,4382,89119%17,38914,14023%Jaguar Land Rover4,5134,1628%22,86519,16119%Maserati22620610%1,06090817%Maserati22620610%1,06090817%Mazda20,35717,87514%123,886103,07220%Mazda20,35717,87514%123,886103,07220%Mitsubishi5,5757,568-26%27,46235,816–23%Mitsubishi5,5757,568-26%27,46235,816–23%Nissan91,79476,14821%485,484433,03212% Infiniti10,5926,38966%43,94140,9867% Nissan Division81,20269,75916%441,543392,04613%Nissan91,79476,14821%485,484433,03212%Porsche2,8522,8171%13,44812,9964%Porsche2,8522,8171%13,44812,9964%Saab Cars North America–383–100%–3,148–100%Saab–383–100%–3,148–100%Subaru29,72420,03648%136,602112,25522%Subaru29,72420,03648%136,602112,25522%Suzuki2,3602,2903%10,69611,125–4%Suzuki2,3602,2903%10,69611,125–4%Toyota202,973108,38787%868,300701,85124% Lexus21,46312,30574%88,11077,23714% Scion6,0474,69629%26,72123,16515% Toyota division175,46391,38692%753,469601,44925% Toyota/Scion181,51096,08289%780,190624,61425%Toyota202,973108,38787%868,300701,85124%Volkswagen50,36140,78324%223,903172,20430% Audi11,50310,45710%52,49445,85815% Bentley201226–11%85466528% VW division38,65730,10028%170,555125,68136%Volkswagen50,36140,78324%223,903172,20430%Volvo Cars NA6,2467,359–15%27,51129,203–6%Volvo Cars NA6,2467,359–15%27,51129,203–6%Other (estimate)2622562%1,3101,2773%TOTAL1,334,6421,061,83526%5,986,5985,279,87713%

Table courtesy Automotive News [sub]


Bertel Schmitt
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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  • Speed3 Speed3 on Jun 01, 2012

    Hey, just a few questions. Why isn't Maserati counted as part of the "Chrysler Group"? Shouldn't it now be called the "Fiat Group" and include Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, Jeep, Fiat, Maserati, and Ferrari, (and soon Alfa Romeo)? Maybe its just technicalities. I'm also assuming that niche automakers fall into the other category: Farrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Lotus, etc or are swallowed up in the Volkswagen group (for Lambo and Bugatti obviously).

  • JK43123 JK43123 on Jun 01, 2012

    Mitsubishi should just give up. John

    • See 1 previous
    • NeonNoodle NeonNoodle on Jun 01, 2012

      Mitsubishi's numbers were one of my take away's after seeing the chart. It doesn't look good for them. My other observations: Is the Fiat 500 (finally) catching on? Their number looks really strong over last year. Not necessarily in sheer numbers of cars sold, but at least percentage wise. I am shocked that Lincoln has remained essentially flat over last year. My sense was that their sales were going to have really dwindled further. Hyundai continues to show strength. Volkswagen's goal/dream of selling WAY more cars in the US seems to be following the right trajectory.

  • Rochester "better than Vinfast" is a pretty low bar.
  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
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