Shifting Up: Auto Sales Rise in March 2018

Spring is springing in most parts of the country and, as if on cue, more customers are beating their way to a dealership’s door. The market is up, in both monthly and year-to-date measures.

Mazda, Toyota, and Volkswagen are all up on their own merits both from a monthly and year-to-date perspective. In fact, compared to the same month last year, just about all the major automakers moved more metal in March.

FCA enjoyed a year-over-year sales jump of over 13 percent last month, largely thanks to the Jeep brand. Year-to-date, the company is about flat, despite declines at Fiat and Ram. The new Wrangler has paid off, leading to the best month ever for that model. In the first three months of 2018, Jeep has moved nearly 40,000 extra units compared to last year, offsetting drops at all other FCA brands (save for Alfa).

The General is also performing well in 2018, up nearly 4 percent — not a small number considering the company’s volume. Buick itself has jumped more than 13 percent, accounting for an extra 6,000 sales. Most of those extra sales came in the month of March. Chevrolet, GMC, and Cadillac all posted gains.

Hyundai dropped a precipitous 11.2 percent last month, year over year, and 11.8 percent year to date. Both the Hyundai and Genesis brands were off, with the corporation bleeding over 20,000 sales since the start of January. All those new crossovers can’t come soon enough, apparently.

Other bright sparks in the first quarter of 2018 include Acura, Mazda, and Mitsubishi. Wait, what?

This may very well be our final monthly sales report using official numbers, as General Motors announced this morning that it will only release performance data on a quarterly basis going forward. We’ll take our numbers fix where we can get it, though, and remain committed in keeping an ear to the ground.

[Image: Ford]