U.S. Auto Sales Brand-By-Brand Results: May 2017 YTD

U.S. auto sales were essentially flat in the fifth month of 2017 as May new vehicle volume was let down by significant passenger car declines but bolstered by significant pickup truck volume.

Despite a drop in incentives, U.S. sales of full-size pickups jumped 10 percent in May 2017. General Motors’ pickup sales continued to decline, but big gains at Ford, Ram, Toyota, Nissan, and Honda masked losses across much of the industry.

At Hyundai, total sales plunged 18 percent. Hyundai’s Korean partner, Kia, fell 7 percent. Jeep was down 15 percent. At General Motors, where inventory remains in excess of the norm, sales were down marginally, 1 percent, in May.

Nevertheless, the industry didn’t fall far in comparison with May 2016, the fifth month of the highest-volume year in the industry’s history. But May of last year was a particularly poor month by its historical standard. Despite the boom theme of the 2016 calendar year, May 2016 sales had fallen 6 percent compared with May 2015 levels.

Fast forward to 2017 and the auto industry is a general state of decline in the United States. The overall numbers aren’t low, but the trend line is not favorable. With May 2017’s 0.5-percent dropoff, sales have now declined, year-over-year, in five consecutive months. Incentives in May 2017 were 9 percent higher than in May 2016, but average transaction prices rose just 1 percent, according to ALG.

Last month, for the first time since March of last year, Ford Motor Company outsold General Motors. (On a pure retail score, GM still outsold FoMoCo by more than 33,000 units, though factoring out fleet demand for models such as the F-Series doesn’t show Ford’s true picture.) Excluding niche brands, the fastest growth was reported by Buick, Ram, Infiniti, and Subaru. The Ford F-Series led all new vehicles in total sales. The Honda Accord was tops among cars; the Toyota RAV4 led all SUVs/crossovers.

Auto BrandMay 2017May 2016% Change2017 YTD2016 YTD% ChangeAcura 13,93913,5612.8%59,83367,642-11.5%Alfa Romeo 919441,989%2702261935%Audi 19,19718,7282.5%83,55578,4896.5%BMW 25,81829,017-11.0%120,124124,581-3.6%Buick 20,07715,62528.5%91,01787,6323.9%Cadillac 13,21112,0999.2%59,49358,9680.9%Chevrolet 162,950169,331-3.8%799,040825,503-3.2%Chrysler 17,96918,299-1.8%82,354106,614-22.8%Dodge 44,92241,4538.4%218,430222,857-2.0%Fiat 2,6703,170-15.8%12,44014,383-13.5%Ford 229,962 224,9412.2%1,020,1691,061,586-3.9%Genesis 1,752——8,306——GMC 41,12643,395-5.2%221,741211,6024.8%Honda 134,475133,5470.7%592,260585,9981.1%Hyundai 58,25971,006-18.0%283,547306,549-7.5%Infiniti 12,51410,82815.6%66,87253,92024.0%Jaguar 3,1132,16443.9%17,7198,248115%Jeep 75,51688,571-14.7%333,138383,478-13.1%Kia 58,50762,926-7.0%239,593265,755-9.8%Land Rover 4,9934,9500.9%30,07930,943-2.8%Lexus 25,40126,682-4.8%109,362125,785-13.1%Lincoln 10,2889,8074.9%47,06244,4885.8%Maserati 1,26594533.9%5,8184,26136.5%Mazda 26,04728,286-7.9%119,282119,1240.1%Mercedes-Benz °26,893 29,299 -8.2%132,966 134,304 -1.0% Mercedes-Benz Vans ° 3,0662,848 7.7% 12,692 12,677 0.1% Total Mercedes-Benz °29,95932,147-6.8%145,658146,981-0.9%Mini 4,0604,595-11.6%17,79220,230-12.1%Mitsubishi 9,4299,0254.5%46,95143,9116.9%Nissan 124,957122,6681.9%609,488603,6411.0%Porsche 4,8054,578 5.0%23,05222,2263.7%Ram 51,04443,18318.2%230,950214,2697.8%Smart 331420-21.2%1,7572,186-19.6%Subaru 56,13550,08312.1%252,753232,8608.5%Toyota192,847192,6570.1%843,423873,760-3.5%Volkswagen 30,01428,7794.3%133,861125,2056.9%Volvo 6,2025,53612.0%26,80228,066-4.5%————— ——BMW Group 29,87833,612-11.1%137,916144,811-4.8%Fiat Chrysler Automobiles194,305195,665-0.7%885,832946,123-6.4%Daimler AG30,29032,567-7.0%147,415149,167-1.2%Ford Motor Co.240,250 234,7482.3%1,067,2311,106,074-3.5%General Motors 237,364240,450-1.3%1,171,2911,183,705-1.0%American Honda 148,414147,1080.9%652,093653,640-0.2%Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group118,518133,932-11.5%531,446572,304-7.1%Jaguar-Land Rover 8,1067,11413.9%47,79839,19122.0%Nissan / Infiniti / Mitsubishi137,471133,4963.0% 676,360657,5612.9%Toyota Motor Sales, USA. Inc.218,248219,339-0.5%952,785999,545-4.7%Volkswagen Group *54,22652,1973.9% 241,398226,4046.6%———————Industry Total † 1,519,7931,527,068-0.5% 6,981,9197,122,017-2.0%

[Source: Manufacturers]

* Volkswagen Group includes sales figures for Audi, Bentley, Porsche, and Volkswagen brands

° Mercedes-Benz USA releases sales figures for the Mercedes-Benz brand in the conventional sense, vans excluded, as well as totals for the Metris and Sprinter vans. The complete picture is included here.

† Industry total takes into account Automotive News figures/estimates for brands such as Tesla (4,400 May units) and other low-volume, high-priced manufacturers.

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.