February Sales Freeze: Most Brands Out in the Cold Last Month

Most people don’t care to venture out into the frigid weather unless it is absolutely necessary, instead reserving time for indoor activities such as enjoying the heated delights of the nearest wood-burning stove. Given the sales results shown here for February, it would indeed seem that car buying doesn’t rank too high on the Top 40 of most Americans when the weather is foul.

Overall, sales were off nearly three percent compared to this time last year, fuelling speculation by talking heads that 2019 will be the first calendar year in ages that the industry fails to collectively move more than 17 million units.

February is historically a slow month no matter if one is hawking bowties or blue ovals. Most brands saw higher volume than during the depths of January but were down when compared to last February’s activity. In particular, the Detroit Three was a sea of red, with Fiat Chrysler and Ford Motor Company down 2.3 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively. It’s anybody’s guess how General Motors did, since they no longer deem us worthy of monthly sales numbers, but the general consensus is that they were off by about five points.

Japan-based brands fared no better, with the likes of Toyota and Honda shedding volume to the tune of 5.2 percent and 0.4 percent, in that order. Strangely, the latter would have been off much more if not for a spike in sales at Acura, which moved an additional 1,244 rigs last month. Mazda and Nissan also found themselves in the doldrums, plunging by about 7 percent and 12 percent each. Such a percentage counts for a much larger volume drop at Nissan, of course.

So where are the bright spots? Well, we can turn to Subaru, a brand which is enjoying demand by being in the right place at the right time with a portfolio stuffed full of well-executed crossover machines. The new Ascent is doing well, fuelling the Fuji Fire to the tune of 6,160 fresh sales, as is the redesigned Forester, which is up 12.8 percent as a nameplate. The brand as a whole boasts a streak of 87 consecutive months of year-over-year growth. That’s a lot of Exploding Galaxies on the road. They sold 242 BRZs, if you’re wondering. You probably aren’t.

Kia and Hyundai also did good business last month. The Big H saw plenty of volume out of its funky new Kona, a model which sold 5,686 examples in February. This puts it only a few units behind the long-running Sonata and more than makes up for the drops in Accent and Elantra. Santa Fe and Tucson volume were up, as well.

There were 24 selling days last month, equal to the number in February 2018, although dealer principals across the nation probably wish they could have conjured up a few more. Note well: Edmunds reports that the average annual finance rate on new vehicles last month was a gob-smacking 6.26 percent, up from 5.19 one year ago and 4.56 five years prior. Take from that what you will.

[Image: © 2018 Matthew Guy]