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Despite high gas prices and a still shaky economy, customers appear to be tired of their old cars and frequented the surviving car dealers en masse in March. Better inventories, juicy lease deals and new models light a fire under sales. We will update this table throughout the day as new numbers come in.
Chrysler continued its winning streak with group sales up 34 percent, sales of the Chrysler brand are up a whopping 70 percent. Up 5 percent, Ford reports more sedate numbers. GM is up a healthy 12 percent in March, and 3 percent for the year.
Amongst the transplants, Nissan’s sales climbed 12.5 percent. Volkswagen reports a a gain of 34.6 percent for the VW brand, group sales rose 30 percent.
| Automaker | Mar. 2012 | Mar. 2011 | Pct. chng. | YTD 2012 | YTD 2011 | Pct. chng. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BMW division | 23,940 | 20,295 | 18% | 61,549 | 52,616 | 17% |
| Mini | 5,866 | 6,087 | –4% | 14,180 | 12,341 | 15% |
| Rolls-Royce | 32 | 30 | 7% | 96 | 90 | 7% |
| BMW Group | 29,838 | 26,412 | 13% | 75,825 | 65,047 | 17% |
| Chrysler Division | 34,726 | 20,463 | 70% | 79,338 | 42,796 | 85% |
| Dodge | 52,076 | 44,102 | 18% | 126,222 | 101,977 | 24% |
| Dodge/Ram | 79,819 | 67,612 | 18% | 195,717 | 158,801 | 23% |
| Fiat | 3,712 | 500 | 642% | 8,850 | 500 | 1670% |
| Jeep | 45,124 | 33,155 | 36% | 114,146 | 84,853 | 35% |
| Ram | 27,743 | 23,510 | 18% | 69,495 | 56,824 | 22% |
| Chrysler Group | 163,381 | 121,730 | 34% | 398,051 | 286,950 | 39% |
| Maybach | 4 | 3 | 33% | 12 | 9 | 33% |
| Mercedes-Benz | 24,509 | 22,546 | 9% | 64,649 | 55,995 | 16% |
| Smart USA | 999 | 425 | 135% | 2,264 | 1,267 | 79% |
| Daimler AG | 25,512 | 22,974 | 11% | 66,925 | 57,281 | 17% |
| Ford division | 214,081 | 203,794 | 5% | 516,986 | 475,253 | 9% |
| Lincoln | 8,803 | 8,501 | 4% | 20,836 | 20,007 | 4% |
| Mercury | – | – | –% | – | 248 | –100% |
| Ford Motor Co. | 222,884 | 212,295 | 5% | 537,822 | 495,508 | 9% |
| Buick | 13,105 | 15,663 | –16% | 37,336 | 44,739 | –17% |
| Cadillac | 10,537 | 12,164 | –13% | 30,966 | 40,513 | –24% |
| Chevrolet | 173,073 | 148,197 | 17% | 448,134 | 416,505 | 8% |
| GMC | 34,337 | 30,597 | 12% | 91,884 | 90,789 | 1% |
| General Motors | 231,052 | 206,621 | 12% | 608,320 | 592,546 | 3% |
| Acura | 11,166 | 12,611 | –12% | 30,805 | 31,368 | –2% |
| Honda Division | 115,833 | 121,039 | –4% | 289,360 | 276,610 | 5% |
| Honda | 126,999 | 133,650 | –5% | 320,165 | 307,978 | 4% |
| Hyundai division | 69,728 | 61,873 | 13% | 163,573 | 142,620 | 15% |
| Kia | 57,505 | 44,178 | 30% | 138,060 | 104,773 | 32% |
| Hyundai Group | 127,233 | 106,051 | 20% | 301,633 | 247,393 | 22% |
| Jaguar | 1,321 | 874 | 51% | 3,328 | 2,501 | 33% |
| Land Rover | 4,199 | 3,441 | 22% | 10,659 | 8,267 | 29% |
| Jaguar Land Rover | 5,520 | 4,315 | 28% | 13,987 | 10,768 | 30% |
| Maserati | 257 | 200 | 29% | 602 | 473 | 27% |
| Mazda | 32,376 | 30,905 | 5% | 82,023 | 64,559 | 27% |
| Mitsubishi | 7,160 | 7,560 | –5% | 16,607 | 20,167 | –18% |
| Infiniti | 10,185 | 11,287 | –10% | 26,220 | 27,836 | –6% |
| Nissan Division | 126,132 | 109,854 | 15% | 296,141 | 257,522 | 15% |
| Nissan | 136,317 | 121,141 | 13% | 322,361 | 285,358 | 13% |
| Porsche | 2,460 | 2,588 | –5% | 7,159 | 7,007 | 2% |
| Saab | – | 830 | –100% | – | 2,069 | –100% |
| Subaru | 32,387 | 26,916 | 20% | 80,568 | 67,457 | 19% |
| Suzuki | 2,631 | 2,497 | 5% | 6,561 | 6,702 | –2% |
| Lexus | 20,140 | 20,682 | –3% | 49,096 | 47,356 | 4% |
| Scion | 6,694 | 5,540 | 21% | 15,171 | 12,759 | 19% |
| Toyota division | 176,448 | 150,000 | 18% | 423,016 | 373,809 | 13% |
| Toyota/Scion | 183,142 | 155,540 | 18% | 438,187 | 386,568 | 13% |
| Toyota | 203,282 | 176,222 | 15% | 487,283 | 433,924 | 12% |
| Audi | 11,585 | 9,818 | 18% | 29,470 | 25,383 | 16% |
| Bentley | 206 | 137 | 50% | 450 | 320 | 41% |
| VW division | 36,588 | 27,176 | 35% | 94,373 | 67,039 | 41% |
| Volkswagen | 48,379 | 37,131 | 30% | 124,293 | 92,742 | 34% |
| Volvo Cars NA | 6,693 | 6,369 | 5% | 16,418 | 15,440 | 6% |
| Other (estimate) | 262 | 255 | 3% | 786 | 765 | 3% |
| TOTAL | 1,404,623 | 1,246,662 | 13% | 3,467,389 | 3,060,124 | 13% |
Final table courtesy Automotive News [sub]
17 Comments on “U.S. Car Sales: Forward, March!...”
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The Caddy CTS had a nice 15% bump in sales vs. 3/2011 (I wish they’d break it down by body style), but the ATS and XTS can’t come soon enough. A new Escalade couldn’t hurt, either.
As for Buick, the Verano and Regal more than make up for no more Lucerne, but neither are selling that well, and an Enclave update is coming just in time.
Chrysler’s continued sales growth is all the more impressive considering they don’t have a class competitive C Segment offering yet. It will be interesting to see what happens when the Dart comes out.
They seem to be doing the right things though, every new model that comes out is a significant upgrade on the one it replaced (although admittedly some of those were pretty awful…), and between the bankruptcy and the low dollar they now have a competitive cost structure so they can afford to put more money into their cars and still keep the costs reasonable.
Here in Canada Chrysler was #1 in sales for each of the first three months of this year:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/new-cars/auto-news/chrysler-tops-canada-auto-sales-in-first-quarter-of-2012/article2390778/
This is even more impressive in compact car loving Canada, where the Civic has been the top selling car for ages…
Are these consumer purchases or deliveries to dealerships? Detroit radio is running a piece from GM about how everything is “up, up, up!”, and then they say an oddly phrased sentence — the Volt is selling like hotcakes; *deliveries* were at 2,300 last month.
If I understand correctly, sales are proportional to delivery, provided that days on lot remains constant. Channel stuffing comes back into play if you start delivering more cars to dealer lots and those lots have to hold the overflow for a number of days. I also understand the Old GM was one of the worst offenders at channel stuffing.
From an informal survey, Volts are everywhere on lots, but not on the road. One of the Oakland County big boys who had one Volt for the last six months now has seven Volts on his lot.
Not that I don’t love a hybrid that works — I’m positive about eAssist if it’s put in a sedan that can seat people like any early-90s Japanese midsize — and the Fisker with the same notion of range-extension looks cool and a better expense than the Volt — but the Volt continues to be a lightning rod because it always sounds like they’re lying about it. If those were real sales to consumers, and not just shoving cars on dealer lots, why are they slowing production again?
Channel stuffing, bitchez!!
These numbers for all makers are keys in the hand customer deliveries, whether that customer be consumer, small business, fleet commercial, fleet government, or fleet rental agencies.
Hyundai Group outsold Honda, and is outpacing Nissan for the year.
Maybach proves there’s a sucker born every 7 days.
For the next year we’ll hear Honda’s excuse that the Tsunami and flood in Thailand is the reason for their falling sales. It has nothing to do with their lackluster products (aside from the minivan and small SUVs) and completely forgettable Acura products. The past 10 years Honda has been focused on their hybrids that still are 2nd fiddle to the competition and sell poorly.
Honda and the fanbois can’t use the tsunami and flood excuse for March. Everything sold in March of last year was already here or was on a boat.
In SoCal I hear and see deals from Honda for .9% financing everywhere. As a percentage of transaction price, their incentives are the same as GM.
Honda is tanking because the salmon are finally realizing that their vehicles are penalty boxes compared to the competition.
Honda fanboi here. Yeah, Honda had a rough month. September can’t come soon enough, with a new Accord, refreshed Civic, new RDX and ILX almost here.
It’s not so much that Honda vehicles have gotten worse, but that Hyundai, Ford, and even GM have gotten so competitive lately. Honda really needs to return to its roots and figure out what will be meaninigful differentiators in the marketplace going forward. This won’t be easy.
Fiat: cue John Philip Sousa & stars and stripes forever or maybe Sergio’s blasting Kate Smith and the Irvine Berlin ‘God Bless America,’ YTD 2012 … So Serg is it the stripes in the Gucci seatbelts or Abarth fever..?
Honda is tanking. And good riddance, I gave up on them years ago.
If these trends continue it will again be:
1) GM
2) Ford
3) Chrysler/Fiat
4) Toyota
5) Hyundai/Kia
6) Nissan
7) Honda…wah wah.
Oh just a few other observations, why isn’t Maserati grouped with Chrysler. Isn’t it part of Fiat. And speaking of Italian exotics, is it safe to assume that Ferrari and Lamborghini are lumped in the “other” category?
WOW did Ford fleet dump last month…
What am I missing on Ford. Overall their numbers were not that great, but per their release total sales were up 5% and retail up 9%, which does not suggest fleet dumping.
That may be what Ford said……….
But selling almost 30K Focuses and Fusion in a single month…when the cars are not that good raises an eyebrow.
86 – are you suggesting Ford is lying? You might not like the Focus and Fusion but both have been good sellers for Ford. If their sales went up 5% and retail by 9% then fleet must have gone down. And if they increased fleet in Fusion and Focus then they musty have cut massively on something else – any suggestions?