This Is How U.S. Auto Sales Volume Hit a Record High in 2015

by Timothy Cain

January 6th, 2016 11:11 AM

this is how u s auto sales volume hit a record high in 2015

Record new vehicle sales volume in 2015 was powered largely by growth in the SUV/crossover category and further strengthening by pickup trucks. Flat car sales and declining minivan volume served to impede U.S. auto sales growth.

Prior to 2015, consumers, businesses, and government agencies had not combined to purchase and lease more than 17 million new vehicles since 2001. With 17.47 million sales in 2015, year-over-year volume jumped 6 percent and total new vehicle sales soared 67 percent compared with 2009, when auto sales plunged to their lowest depths during the recession.

Utilities

The rise of the utility vehicle in 2015 wasn’t sudden or surprising. A year ago, SUV/crossover volume jumped 12 percent in a market which grew half that fast, and the segment’s share of the industry rose to 32 percent. In 2015, however, as total new vehicle volume grew 6 percent, utility vehicle sales shot up 16 percent, increasing the segment’s share of the market to 35 percent as car volume fell from 47 percent to 43 percent.

While the SUV/CUV sector was undeniably strengthened by the addition of new nameplates, many of which wouldn’t have merited “SUV” status in the public consciousness when auto sales last climbed this high, numerous top sellers increased their level of dominance. The Toyota RAV4, Nissan Rogue, Ford Explorer, Jeep Cherokee, and Honda Pilot – all listed among America’s 15 most popular utility vehicles – grew faster than the SUV/CUV market average in 2015. The best-selling Honda CR-V, meanwhile, posted a 3-percent gain and broke its own annual sales record by 10,628 units.

That said, the newbies — Chevrolet Trax, Jeep Renegade, Honda HR-V, Fiat 500X, and Mazda CX-3, none of which generated any U.S. sales activity in 2014 — added 182,000 sales to the ledger in calendar year 2015. Their subcompact SUV/CUV class posted a collective 96 percent, year-over-year sales increase built in part due to their additional sales; in part due to growth of established models.

On the flip side, subcompact cars, never a supremely high-volume category in the United States, tumbled 6 percent in 2015. America’s most popular car in 2015 continued to be the midsize Toyota Camry, a nameplate which has now topped the passenger car leaderboard in 14 consecutive years. (The CR-V’s SUV leadership dates back to 2012.)

Trucks

The Ford F-Series was America’s pickup truck sales leader in 2015. However, for the first time since 2009, the F-Series was outsold by General Motors’ full-size twins: the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. F-Series volume increased rapidly in the final quarter of 2015, but the GM twins saw their full-size truck market share rise to 38 percent from 36 percent in 2014. For the F-Series, sales in 2015 rose to the highest level since 2006. Chevrolet Silverado sales hit an eight-year peak while GMC Sierra sales climbed to the greatest total since 2005. The Ram truck line, meanwhile, achieved record high sales of 451,116 units, outperforming the previous record of 449,371 units from 2003.

Pickup truck sales were further bolstered in 2015 by greater availability of the new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, midsize pickups which arrived late last year. The Toyota Tacoma is still America’s best-selling non-full-size truck, but even the Tacoma sales increased as the competition for midsize truck buyers increased in 2015. The sub-category’s total volume jumped 41 percent and the Tacoma, Colorado, Nissan Frontier, Canyon, and Honda Ridgeline combined for 14-percent market share, up from 11 percent in 2014.

Truck-centric even without the addition of 114,507 Colorado and Canyon sales to the company’s U.S. sales tally, GM was even more so in 2015. The best-selling automaker in America reported a 5-percent overall sales increase in 2015 as the company’s four pickup truck lines contributed 30 percent of the volume thanks to the foursome’s 25-percent volume increase in 2015. GM’s other products combined for a 2-percent decrease. Obviously, GM is nothing like the force it was in the pre-recession era — GM owned 24 percent of the U.S. market as recently as 2007 — but the company’s market share in 2015 was just south of stable, slightly below 18 percent.

The maker of America’s best-selling vehicle line is also America’s best-selling new vehicle brand. Ford has led all brands for six consecutive years. In 2015, Blue Oval car sales slipped marginally, but utilities, trucks, and commercial vans propelled the Ford brand to a 5-percent increase.

GM leading all manufacturers, Ford topping all brands, the F-Series and Camry and CR-V on top — these are all entirely conventional elements of the U.S. auto industry. Hints of autonomous driving were more prevalent over the last year, from increasingly common lane keeping assist systems to more frequent installation of pre-collision systems. Though autonomy captures much of the public’s attention, the biggest technological advancement story evidenced by U.S. auto sales figures in 2015 may not have been an advancement at all. Volkswagen’s so called TDI Clean Diesels weren’t so clean after all. Following the eruption of the scandal in mid-September, Volkswagen couldn’t sell any of the vehicles that typically accounted for one-fifth of the brand’s volume in America. Already struggling before news of dirty TDIs broke, Volkswagen volume fell flat in an incentive-laden October; plunged 25 percent, a loss of nearly 8,000 sales, in November; and fell 5 percent in December.

Losers

Incidentally, the Volkswagen TDI’s chief rivals in the fuel economy race — hybrids — faced their own set of challenges in 2015. With fuel prices consistently low, typically more costly hybrids lack a crucial part of their appeal in comparison with their conventionally powered siblings. As a result, through the first 11 months of 2015, hybrid sales plunged 16 percent.

Americans registered more new vehicles in 2015 than at any point in history. This certainly doesn’t mean the list of losers isn’t a long one. Smart, Bentley, Dodge, Maserati, Jaguar, Fiat, Scion, and Buick all joined Volkswagen on the list of brands which sold less often in 2015 than in 2014.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.

#2015AutoSales #AutoSales #ByTheNumbers #U.S.AutoSales

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10 of 44 comments

Big Al from Oz on Jan 06, 2016

The total number of vehicles sold in 2016 isn't spectacular as is promoted by the press. I do think over 20 million would be worth all of the back slapping. Modern vehciles are also more reliable than vehicles in the past. Cheap and creative lending instruments for the consumer has also helped. If the US economy was in better shape I wonder what could of been sold?

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- Highdesertcat on Jan 06, 2016
  
  The economic conditions in America under the current administration are not conducive to more than 17.5 million sales of new vehicles. And in order to get to that number, lenders had to lower the qualifying credit scores to increase sub-prime lending. I expect a lot more lay-offs to be announced during Q1 of 2016. And I expect a lot more repos as well. So sales of new vehicles pretty much follow the dividing line between those who have job-security and money, and those who don't.
  
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- VoGo on Jan 06, 2016
  
  @highdesertcat For those not familiar with the state of "the economic conditions in America under the current administration", they are: - Full employment - Minimal inflation - Stocks with 7% of all time highs This is why analysts predict continued success for automakers.
  
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- 28-Cars-Later on Jan 06, 2016
  
  @VoGo Pass the bong when you get a chance. Thanks. Seriously though see if you can did up some utility bills from say 2010 and compare them to 2015 ones. Official inflation somewhere in the 2% arena per annum so 10% in five years, but for S&G make it 15%. The cable I had went up over 1/3rd (int/basic cable late 2009: $44, int/basic cable: $66 before dropping it in Nov 2015, or 40%) and my electric went up about 1/3rd ($19 in 2014, $30 currently as of Dec). I'm seeing some "minimal" inflation indeed. Yes we can [wreck the world].
  
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- VoGo on Jan 06, 2016
  
  @28-Cars-Later Balancing your utility bill inflation is your gas spend, which is half what it was 5 years ago. The business you know best is cars, right? New car pricing has been pretty flat for the last decade or two. Used cars went up quite a bit in 2009-2011, but that was because they were abnormally depressed by the great recession.
  
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- 28-Cars-Later on Jan 06, 2016
  
  @28-Cars-Later Commodities deflation is incidental and could theoretically rise again at any time. Your bills won't automagically go down when this occurs. Comcast has no right to raise rates 40%, they do it because they are "in the club" and engage in monopolistic, or duopolistic behavior if there is actually one other competitor (i.e. Verizon). There was a time when companies were broken up if they got to such a point, but it seems this time has past. The electric company is cute too, they "compete" through deregulation but there are four "fees" on my bills. They only compete on one of the four ("supply" IIRC) and its within a cent or two per kWH per utility co. Distribution, transmission, and my favorite, customer charge are non-negotiable (in fact I think the bill said "transmission" rate is regulated by the feds). Many months the "supply" part of the bill is less than the "customer charge", and who regulates the charge? Why the Commonwealth of course. Thanks for having my back, Harrisburg. Ten dollars/mo in the grand scheme of things isn't the end of the world, but percentage wise YoY? I can see why 26% of adults have no savings. https://www.creditdonkey.com/average-american-savings-statistics.html Truthfully its not the business I know best but I have some resale knowledge, yes. In order to agree with your statement I'd have to sit and crunch some calculations which I don't have the time to do right now. Here's what I can say off of the top of my head: the 2004-2008ish period saw the end of many legacy models and motors, esp from the Detroit 3. Legacy meant: cheaper to build/sell, cheaper resale due to lack of used demand, usually better reliability used. We all know what happened next but what many don't realize is for many mfgs whole new platforms and drivetrains came online which mean the automaker's costs went up significantly outside of the overall market conditions. So while yes you might have a crop of say MY12s starting to hit the block, many of them will lack the tried and true reliability aspect of an MY01 in 2005/6. One must also factor in decreased materials or labor quality on some models. Derek famously reported on the MY13 MKZephyr's QC issues... did the 98 Conti or 03 Town Car have similar assembly or materials issues when they were release? We also can't forget wear items, have you priced tires on the giant 19in wheels these days? Its enough to give you a nosebleed. Pay more, get less, and love it prole. Again I would need some data to back this up but for the most part I don't want to be buying anything that's used right now. The stuff I like to buy used is getting long in the tooth and the new-used stuff is questionable. The business model I am seeing becoming commonplace is leasing, but with leasing you give up not only equity but also incidentals while accepting mileage limitations (which are a total sham) and cosmetic features damage (the dealer can ding you for minor stuff on *their* car at lease return whereas on trade it would be ignored). One of my siblings is in the market and due to his life changes will require a vehicle literally in the next few days. I accompanied him to a Subaru dealer on Sat and was a bit taken aback, not by the product or salesperson specifically but the process this dealer employed (no talk of trade, no negotiation at all, would not let us see the sales contract, would not run credit unless there was an oral agreement to purchase). I'm thinking Whiskey Tango Foxtrot do you want the sale or not? He didn't seem to interested which I found odd. My advice was Subaru or Camry for resale purposes. He has it in his head Hondas suck in the snow we get around here from his gf's Civic (I really have no idea myself having not driven a Honda in snow for a decade). Pickup trucks cost too much and other products such as Fusion or say 200 to throw out some Detroit 3, I don't trust new for both reliability and resale reasons. For my money >20K its Mustang GT, Lexus something off the block, or pickup truck for the debt loaded win. Nothing else really appeals to me. Caveat Emptor
  
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- Highdesertcat on Jan 06, 2016
  
  28-Cars-Later, maybe the current economic conditions in America suit VoGo. I've known better times, as have millions of others in America. But it really is a moot point, and not reply worthy. The current administration is on the way out, and history will record their record as even worse than that of Jimmy Carter, heretofore the worst president in modern history. What the future holds, who will be elected in Nov 2016, what world events will shape our economy, no one knows at this juncture. And even that is really immaterial because those who can, are redefining their own destiny. Those who can't, not so much. The working class? That's another matter entirely. They're the ones who have to pay for it all, and stick around to pick up the pieces. So I say, let them determine what they want just like they did in 2008 and 2012. They got exactly what they deserved.
  
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- RobertRyan on Jan 06, 2016
  
  @HighdesertCat On a per capita basis our sales would be 17.8 million units if we were the size of the US. Still our economy is not firing. Maybe the naysayers could be right about the US economy?
  
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John on Jan 06, 2016

I would be really interested in the answer to this: What percentage of new vehicles were sold for cash, or 36 - 48 month terms to people with good credit vs. what percentage were sold with terms of 60 months plus and/or to people with poor credit?

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- Highdesertcat on Jan 06, 2016
  
  John, "sold for cash" must be defined more clearly because a dealership recognizes a "sold for cash" transaction when the buyer self-finances with a bank or credit union, as well as paying with personal funds. Financing on terms can be done with a financial arm of the automaker, or, through a dealer+financial institution arrangement, both of which result in some kind of kickback to the dealer. Poor credit is no longer a consideration these days, hence sub-prime loans. Poor credit may affect the down-payment and APR a buyer has to forfeit, but those are the trade-offs. I expect repos to increase starting in 2016. Too many lay-offs still coming our way. We ain't seen nothing yet.
  
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