Ford and Toyota Down, Honda and Mazda Up
GM and Chrysler weren't the only ones singing the blues when February's sales numbers plunked onto the e-mat. Automotive News [sub] reports Ford and Toyota also showed declines in February– although not quite as precipitous as The General and Mopar. Ford's sales fell 6.3 percent compared to last February, while Toyota's (including Scion and Lexus) dropped a jaw-dropping 6.6 percent (when adjusted for the extra selling day this year). Toyota's atypical performance is attributed to poor truck sales. Group vice president of marketing admitted that ToMoCo's full-size truck and SUV sales "could get tougher before it gets better." With a 37 percent decline in the U.S. construction industry, Randy Pflughaupt ain't just whistling Dixie. Honda, Mazda and Nissan, on the other hand, bucked the trend and actually posted gains. Honda was up 4.9 percent, Mazda increased 6.7 percent and Nissan rose 1.2 percent. Hmmm… the two companies with no V8 engines and no full-sized pickups or huge SUVs showed the largest gains. What does that tell you?
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The thing that killed me was that the Chevy Cobalt was up almost 50%. Things must be desperate.
Since this isn't posted in here (the entire picture): U.S. light-vehicle sales totals, individual automaker results and market share for February compared with February 2007: FEBRUARY 2007 Maker / volume / % change from 07 / % mkt / share YTD volume / % change from 2007 YTD % / mkt share GM 268,737 -12.9% 22.8% 519,663 -6.0% 23.4% Ford 196,060 -6.6% 16.7% 355,336 -5.4% 16.0% Toyota 182,169 -2.8% 15.5% 354,018 -2.5% 15.9% Chrysler 150,093 -14.0% 12.8% 287,485 -13.1% 12.9% Honda 115,397 4.9% 9.8% 213,908 1.5% 9.6% Nissan 86,219 1.2% 7.3% 162,824 -3.0% 7.3% Hyundai 31,090 -9.9% 2.6% 52,542 -15.6% 2.4% BMW 24,248 -1.7% 2.1% 41,241 -11.3% 1.9% Mazda 23,548 6.7% 2.0% 44,760 8.3% 2.0% Volkswagen 22,939 -1.8% 2.0% 44,135 -5.3% 2.0% Kia 21,988 -6.5% 1.9% 43,343 -5.8% 2.0% Mercedes 18,589 7.2% 1.6% 36,877 7.1% 1.7% Subaru 12,907 0.2% 1.1% 24,196 -3.0% 1.1% Mitsubishi 9,105 -6.4% 0.8% 16,331 -14.5% 0.7% Suzuki 8,796 2.5% 0.7% 15,916 -5.1% 0.7% Porsche 1,715 -12.8% 0.1% 4,310 -12.9% 0.2% Smart USA 1,500 NA 0.1% 1,500 NA 0.1% Isuzu 790 41.3% 0.1% 1,223 15.5% 0.1% Maserati 211 55.1% 0.0% 335 8.4% 0.0% Ferrari 135 16.4% 0.0% 240 -4.4% 0.0% TOTAL 1,176,236 -6.3% 100.0% 2,220,183 -5.4% 100.0% GM includes Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn. Ford includes Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover. Chrysler includes Dodge and Jeep. Mercedes includes Mercedes and Maybach. Volkswagen includes Audi and Bentley. BMW includes Mini and Rolls-Royce. Toyota includes Lexus and Scion. Honda includes Acura. Nissan includes Infiniti. Figures are not adjusted for selling days. Top 20 Selling Vehicles in February Feb.2008 / % chng 08 / YTD % chng Ford F -- Series 52,548 -4.9% 93,673 -6.5% Chevrolet Silverado 44,096 -24.9% 80,218 -17.4% Toyota Camry 34,914 8.6% 66,515 4.6% Honda Accord 27,631 -9.0% 51,588 -8.0% Chevrolet Impala 25,196 -6.4% 42,740 -18.1% Honda Civic 23,799 18.8% 44,792 16.6% Nissan Altima 23,363 5.6% 44,998 -3.2% Dodge Ram 22,642 -20.9% 42,544 -19.7% Toyota Corolla 21,202 -25.1% 41,938 -22.1% Chevrolet Cobalt 16,958 56.1% 34,268 43.5% Pontiac G6 16,901 50.3% 30,843 32.7% Ford Focus 16,302 10.6% 27,902 22.5% Honda CR-V 15,694 16.0% 31,710 13.6% GMC Sierra 15,088 -16.8% 28,288 -9.6% Ford Fusion 14,980 12.1% 24,163 1.2% Toyota Tundra 14,400 48.9% 26,473 65.6% Ford Escape 14,192 -1.4% 25,383 11.3% Toyota Tacoma 13,125 -12.6% 24,189 -13.9% Honda Pilot 12,881 24.3% 21,256 7.7% Chevrolet Malibu 12,211 24.2% 26,316 49.8% Source: Autodata Corp.
umterp - Focus retail sales were up 30+% in February. It's retail marketshare is much higher than a year ago. It's fleet sales were down in February. Despite its bad rep on this and other boards, the new Focus is proving very popular with consumers. I live in Toyota and Honda land (California) and the new Focus is all over the place. I don't understand what those customers see in the Focus, but they sure like it.
Cobalt and G6 up over 50%? Sorry, this has monster fleet dump written all over it. Cars that were going nowhere do not jump like that for no reason. The Malibu's only up 24%. But it is on the top 20 for the first time since... Good news for the bowtie dealers there (and it's about the only good news).