The Heavy Lifters: 2014 U.S. Auto Sales Growth Was Mostly Powered By An Elite Few
Subtract the growth achieved by America’s 19 most meaningfully improved vehicles in 2014 and the U.S. auto industry was up just 1.0%, not 5.9%, last year.
The Audi A3; BMW 3-Series/4-Series; Chevrolet Cruze and Silverado; GMC Sierra; Honda Accord and CR-V; Jeep Cherokee; Kia Soul; Nissan Sentra, Rogue, and Versa; Ram P/U; Subaru Forester and Outback; and Toyota’s Camry, Corolla, RAV4, and 4Runner all produced in excess of 20,000 more sales in 2014 than in 2013, combining for 764,885 extra sales in a market which grew by approximately 927,000 units.
93,722 more sales were produced by another 18 vehicles which weren’t available in 2013: 4C, i3, i8, X4, GLA, Transit, MKC, ELR, City Express, Trax, TLX, K900, RC, NX, Q3, 918 Spyder, Macan, and V60.
Subtract the improvements produced by these 37 vehicles – which represent just 13% of the available nameplates – and America’s new vehicle industry was up just 0.4% in 2014, or basically flat.
Cause for concern?
Hardly. But it’s a meaningful statistic, as it displays how the joint strength of many of the most popular (or increasingly popular) vehicle lines can overcome disastrous results from vehicles which buyers found far less desirable last year than in 2013. The 147 different nameplates which posted year-over-year declines in 2014 collectively produced 626,271 fewer sales in 2014 than in 2013, an 11% loss.
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures.
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There are a few new cars/suvs in our company parking lot, not one new pickup, which is unusual for this part of Texas. No one in my little neighborhood has a new car of any kind. New car sticker shock? Old cars still running good and nothing really exciting, seem to be the common reasons.
That was an interesting statistic, thank you! Out of curiosity, does anyone know what the TOTAL sales for the Cherokee & Wrangler were this year? These trucks are everywhere!