America In February 2011: Return Of The Buyers, Bigtime
“The consumer is back to the showrooms,” said Brian Johnson, an analyst with Barclays Capital to the Los Angeles Times. No kidding. The consumer is back with a vengeance. February new cars sales were up 27 percent on the year. The world’s two biggest automakers report sales increases we thought only possible in China.
GM reports that February sale rose 45.8 percent compared with a year earlier to 207,028 vehicles.
General Motors total sales in the United States rose 49 percent to 207,028 units in February. The number was actually dragged down by fleet sales. Retail sales rose 70 percent – the highest year-over-year gain in the company’s history. Fleet sales for GM’s four brands were 43,900 for the month, a 2-percent increase for the month, with sales to rental fleets down 5 percent.
A similar, but not as pronounced picture at Ford. Retail sales increased 23 percent. Ford hasn’t broken out fleet sales yet, but they appear to be similarly tepid. Ford’s total February sales, including sales to fleet customers, were 156,626, up 14 percent.
Chrysler’s sales increased a sedate 13 percent. Fleet sales are not available yet, but it is a fair assumption that they are likewise down. “Our retail sales were up substantially in February, proof positive that the 16 all-new or significantly-refreshed models we launched during 2010 are resonating with consumers,” said Fred Diaz, President and CEO – Ram Truck Brand and Lead Executive for U.S. Sales.
Toyota surprised delivering sales performance in the same league as GM. Toyota’s U.S. sales were up 41.8 percent to 141,846 units. Toyota branded cars are up 48.5 percent to 128,032 units. Lexus sales are flat from last February.
Analysts had predicted February total car sales to rise 20 percent.
U.S. Car and Light-Truck Sales, Feb. 2011Complete table
AutomakerFeb. 2011Feb. 2010Pct. chng.2 monthData courtesy Automotive News [sub]
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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Acc azda atch, Re: Lincoln. The point I was trying to make is that Ford prematurely chopped Mercury from the market, and now Lincoln is suffering because of it. There was absolutely no reason to cut all the Mercury models now. The Milan and Mariner could have continued until the replacement models were due. This would have given Ford more time to develop new and hopefully higher volume Lincoln models to take their place. Last February, Lincoln-Mercury dealers sold over 14,000 units, this year, less than 6,000. The decline is due entirely to the deletion of Mercury, and with less people coming to the dealerships, Lincoln is dropping as well, as I'm sure some of those Mercury shoppers were converted to Lincoln buyers. I still don't see Ford investing billions of dollars to prop up Lincoln as a North American only brand. Virtually all other luxury models are global products, sold through out the world's markets, even if the marque names are not used (i.e. Acura RL is Honda Legend in some markets). I don't think the Lincoln brand has an international cache that will allow Ford to take it global. I also don't think that Ford has to have a luxury brand to succeed in the market. The new Ford models are becoming more and more upscale, making the need for a seperate brand redundant. For example, The Taurus is arguably nicer that the Lincoln MKS and when fully equipped, can nearly match it in price. That's why MKS sales are slowing to a trickle. Regarding combining Lincoln and Ford dealers, that's just not going to work. Luxury cars buyers will not want to shop at a Ford dealership, they want the full blown luxury car treatment and don't want to mix with the "riff raff" at the dealerships. Case in point: a friend of a friend who took his Lincoln in for service was given a Ford F-150 as a loaner car! Can you imagine this happening at a Lexus/BMW/Mercedes dealership?
I hope with Mercury gone and Lincoln shaking in it's tires, that Ford can make it. Even though they didn't take bailout money doesn't mean they're off the hook. They are in deep, deep trouble like GM and especially Chrysler. I don't believe I'm fooling myself, but I kind of compare this to the consumer electronics industry, namely, televisions. Zenith, Philco, Admiral, Motorola, Magnavox and others were doing just fine and dandy 40 years ago then suddenly Sony comes out with Trinitron and the picture quality blew everyone else out of the water. Imperceptably, U.S.-made TV's began a downward trend with Zenith on top for years, then the U.S. brands were either bought up by others, licensed to foreign makers or just faded into history. Automobiles are the last major U.S.-made consumer good of any importance and being really simplistic, it appears to me it's happening to them now. Any domestic names that may remain will be just that - names. GM is on its way, so is Chrysler and then Ford. Homogenized milk is supposed to be healthier for you. What about automobiles?