U.S. Auto Sales Brand-By-Brand Results: March 2016 YTD

by Timothy Cain

Published: April 1st, 2016

Against expectations that auto sales would rise by at least 7 percent, March 2016 volume in the United States increased just 3 percent. Modest growth at General Motors and noteworthy drops at Toyota, Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz didn’t stop auto sales from increasing by more than 50,000 units, year-over-year. But the possibility that auto sales in March would climb to one of the highest levels ever failed to materialize despite an additional two selling days compared with March 2015.

Indeed, the daily selling rate achieved by the auto industry decreased even as March 2016 hosted 27 official selling days on the auto sales calendar, up from 25 one year ago.

Bucking the declining DSR trend were brands such as Dodge, Honda, Infiniti, Jeep, Lincoln, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Ram, Scion, and Volvo. No auto brand grew at a greater clip — relative to its own March 2015 performance — than Scion, though Jeep topped all volume brands with a 15-percent improvement. Mazda’s 27-percent decline was the worst decline among volume brands, as the Mazda3, Mazda6, and CX-5 combined for an 8,635-unit decrease.

Ford Motor Company ended March as America’s best-selling automaker. General Motors, the perennial top dog, leads the year-to-date standings by more than 42,000 units.

Auto BrandMarch 2016March 2015% Change2016 YTD2015 YTD% ChangeAcura 14,85214,6701.20%37,87539,644-4.50%Alfa Romeo5373 -27.4%169217-22.10%Audi 18,39217,1027.50%41,96040,0984.60%BMW 30,03334,310-12.50%70,61378,492-10.00%Buick 18,20720,526-11.30%54,28750,4977.50%Cadillac 13,05313,756-5.10%35,63337,175-4.10%Chevrolet 176,283173,8861.40%472,730476,556-0.80%Chrysler 26,23630,038 -12.7%65,50681,933-20.00%Dodge 51,14946,049 11.1%140,509123,511 13.8%Fiat 3,4224,494 -23.9%9,00911,038 -18.4%Ford 243,375 226,091 7.6% 616,682 570,422 8.1%GMC 44,58541,7076.90%121,048119,8111.00%Honda 123,369111,62310.50%319,828294,2998.70%Hyundai 75,310 75,0190.40% 173,330172,0290.80%Infiniti 13,775 12,525 10.0% 32,660 33,842-3.50%Jaguar 2,1331,66028.50%4,9974,33615.20%Jeep 82,33771,584 15.0%209,597178,749 17.3%Kia 58,27958,771-0.80%146,321141,1003.70%Land Rover 8,7336,77828.80%20,80516,97622.60%Lexus 30,19831,054-2.80%74,22177,180-3.80%Lincoln 9,6898,69511.40%24,90521,47816.00%Maserati 9979960.10%2,2501,92916.60%Mazda 23,39632,121-27.20%64,64378,042-17.20%Mercedes-Benz 28,16429,921-5.9%75,76978,156-3.10%Mercedes-Benz Vans 3,0722,37929.1%7,2405,55930.20%Total Mercedes-Benz 31,23632,300 -3.3% 83,009 83,715 -0.8%Mini 4,7625,829-18.30%10,83912,777-15.20%Mitsubishi 11,0789,764 13.5%25,21223,790 6.0%Nissan 149,784 132,560 13.0% 367,544 333,786 10.1%Porsche 4,3234,2910.70%12,23811,4307.10%Ram 49,99045,023 11.0%126,313110,406 14.4%Scion 7,2614,42464.10%18,24211,97852.30%Smart 479 583-17.80%1,3001,533-15.20%Subaru 49,28549,1110.40%132,397131,2810.90%Toyota 182,383 190,481 -4.3% 476,616486,462 -2.0%Volkswagen 26,91430,025-10.40%69,31479,239-12.50%Volvo 6,8575,91615.90%16,36113,72219.20%————— ——BMW-Mini 34,79540,139-13.30%81,45291,269-10.80%Fiat Chrysler Automobiles 213,187197,261 8.1%551,103505,854 8.9%Daimler AG31,71532,883-3.60%84,30985,248-1.10%Ford Motor Co. 253,064 234,786 7.8% 641,587 591,900 8.4%General Motors 252,128249,8750.90%683,698684,039 -0.05%Honda Motor Co. 138,221126,2939.40%357,703333,9437.10%Hyundai-Kia 133,589 133,790 -0.2% 319,651 313,129 2.1%Jaguar-Land Rover10,8668,43828.80%25,80221,31221.10%Nissan Motor Co. 163,559 145,085 12.7% 400,204 367,628 8.9%Toyota Motor Corp.219,842225,959-2.70%569,079575,620-1.10%Volkswagen Group * 49,748 51,666-3.70% 123,774 131,307 -5.7%———————Industry Total1,595,0651,546,4633.10%4,087,1803,957,1643.30%

Source: Manufacturers

* Volkswagen Group includes sales figures for Audi, Bentley, Porsche, and Volkswagen brands

** Industry total takes into account Automotive News figures/estimates for brands such as Tesla (2,250 March units) and other low-volume, high-priced manufacturers.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures.

#AutoSales #BrandSales #BrandSalesFigures #ByTheNumbers #Lists #March2016Sales #SalesNumbers #U.S.AutoSales

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17 of 56 comments

Thornmark on Apr 02, 2016

Ford channeled 37% of its product through fleet sales despite increased retail incentives. Nothing to see here. Ford beats GM in March with high fleet sales http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2016/04/01/ford-motor-company-march-2016-auto-sales/82509024/

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- JohnTaurus on Apr 02, 2016
  
  Exactly, its not like fleet sales are a huge part of F-Series, Transit, Transit Connect and Sedan/Utility police models, huh? Its just awful that they are able to move thousands of units at a time with commercial-grade models virtually designed from the start with fleet sales in mind. Each the best seller in their respective catagories, btw. Bad, bad news there, obviously. But, no, its ALL rental cars, right? Is that why Fusion has higher average transaction prices than Camry, not to mention Malibu?
  
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- Thornmark on Apr 02, 2016
  
  @JohnTaurus KMart Blue Oval Specials. NO brand wants 37% fleet sales plus high retail incentives. As for the Fusion, it probably is more than 37% fleet as Ford car sales are down overall.
  
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- DenverMike on Apr 02, 2016
  
  @thornmark Actually car makers do want "fleet sales", especially when they're commercial grade, go to industry/government/utilities, get driven into the ground and they keep coming back for more. They keep the assembly line humming with scores or hundreds at a time, built identical. Users mostly ignore quality issues.
  
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- DeadWeight on Apr 02, 2016
  
  JohnTaurusBlackCircleReliability gets a raging boner anytime his crotch area is in the general vicinity of a Vulcan 3.0 liter in declining health.
  
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- Thornmark on Apr 02, 2016
  
  @DenverMike "Worse yet, more than half of Ford's fleet sales in February were to rental car lots, the typically less desirable of fleet sales. " http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/18/rather-than-watch-for-peak-auto-sales-focus-on-the.aspx Wanna bet March sales were similar or worse, meaning more rental as a %.
  
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- APaGttH on Apr 02, 2016
  
  @thornmark Fleet sales aren't bad. Fleet sales to rental agencies are bad. As you noted, Ford had over 50% of their fleet sales go to rental agencies. That is bad. What I don't know, and we don't know is, are vans and pickups going to U-Haul as bad as unwanted Focii going to Hertz. The other thing we don't know is how many vans and pickups went to U-Haul, Hertz-Penske, etc. etc. etc.
  
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- Pch101 on Apr 02, 2016
  
  @thornmark Commercial fleet is perfectly acceptable. A lot of the truck fleet is "good" fleet, and Ford's numbers skew heavily toward commercial truck sales. The passenger car fleet is another matter. I don't have the current numbers, but chances are good that about two-thirds of that is going to rental. Some rental car sales are fine, but it's an indication of a problem if a third or more of the nameplate's total sales are going to rental.
  
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- Jthorner on Apr 02, 2016
  
  @APaGttH U-haul is really a commercial fleet purchaser, even though they rent out trucks. U-haul keeps their vehicles for many, many years. When they finally leave the U-haul fleet they are not competing with new car sales or undermining resale values of other purchaser's vehicles.
  
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- DenverMike on Apr 02, 2016
  
  @APaGttH Most Ford fleet sales are pickups, so I can't imagine 50% going to the bad kind of "fleets", like Hertz. If they do go to daily 'airport' type rentals, they're XLTs or Lariats. Pickups are such specialized vehicles with hundred of combinations, I also can't imagine Hertz/airport type of ex-rentals harming the used F-series market.
  
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- El scotto on Apr 02, 2016
  
  @DeadWeight Seems to me you used to have a great deal of vitriol for Ford. The ecoboost engines and the MKC and Escape and new F-150 seemed to draw your ire. Then sales totals made you a sad panda. Then your focused on a can't lose whipping boy: Cadillac. Ole Johann has less sense than the average house-cat if agrees to a face to face with you; nothing to gain and everything to lose. BTW, I bough my Ford stock at 2 and some change. So rant on the interwebs all you want to about Ford; my retirement home gets closer to the beach with each stock increase.
  
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Flybrian on Apr 02, 2016

*I* almost outsold Alfa-Romeo in March...

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- See 4 previous
- SCE to AUX on Apr 02, 2016
  
  Great perspective. The 4C is a very cool car, but you'd think they could do better with it.
  
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- 28-Cars-Later on Apr 02, 2016
  
  You'll beat them next month and win that Cadillac!
  
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- El scotto on Apr 02, 2016
  
  You get the first round man; and I ain't drinking no Schlitz.
  
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- JimZ on Apr 03, 2016
  
  @SCE to AUX How so? It's basically their spin on Lotus; hastily built overpriced junk which maybe four or five people actually want to buy.
  
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- Morea on Apr 03, 2016
  
  @28-Cars-Later Second place, a set of steak knives, third place, you're fired.
  
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