US Vehicle Sales

[Wolverine]

April US sales, pretty good numbers, Toyota seems back on track, I'm glad: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/05/03/by-the-numbers-april-2010-dont-count-chrysler-out-edition/

[goodsonr]

everytime I see that Subaru has done well again - thanks to the Outback which (visually) I dislike intensely -- which means I probably won't ever see a new Legacy Wagon, I can't help but think upon the immortal words of Dick Tuck

"The people have spoken - the bastards"

[Snowman]

everytime I see that Subaru has done well again - thanks to the Outback which (visually) I dislike intensely -- which means I probably won't ever see a new Legacy Wagon, I can't help but think upon the immortal words of Dick Tuck

"The people have spoken - the bastards"

Well said, I hate Toyota.

[articsteve]

Well said, I hate Toyota.

 

[G0dspd]

10 cars and trucks the Ford Ranger outsold in April 2010 (US)
http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2010/05/10-cars-and-trucks-the-ford-ranger-outsold-in-april-2010.html

Ford Ranger:   5220
Ford Mustang: 5145

It's not a big difference but for an old "relic" that Ford wanted to kill at the beginning of the year ... not bad. 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Hard to believe the old Ranger outsold the Honda Fit for the month and year to date!

[sirAQUAMAN64]

April '10...

[safristi]

Hard to believe the old Ranger outsold the Honda Fit for the month and year to date!

 who ya calling an OLDE RANGER...well i'll have you......kn..........................what woz the question again?..i can backup my pickup but i has trouble pickin' up my back up..........do ya have a double room(no questions asked!!! ) @ SaSk TOWERS.....has Manuel been changer to a CVT!!???

[sirAQUAMAN64]

June '10...

[MKII]

SirA, any chance of you posting the USA July 2010 pdf??

thks

[sirAQUAMAN64]

July '10...

[sirAQUAMAN64]

Sales stink, but smell those sweet profits
August dip is 21%, but new discipline keeps the ink black
Amy Wilson
Automotive News -- September 6, 2010 - 12:01 am ET

No surprise: August's 21 percent auto sales drop, to the lowest level for the month in nearly 30 years, was dismal.

Last month's numbers were dragged down by comparison with August 2009, when sales soared because of cash for clunkers. And because inventories are low, carmakers didn't need to offer blockbuster incentives to clear dealer lots for the incoming 2011 models.

August's seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate dropped below 11 million units for the first time since February, to 10.8 million, according to the Automotive News Data Center.

But most analysts expect sales to return to the low- to mid-11 million range. So IHS Automotive left its fourth-quarter production forecast unchanged at 2.8 million, up 3 percent from a year earlier.

But manufacturer profits? That's a much better story than in years past -- even though sales continue to skid along near the industry's lowest levels in three decades.

The irony: The domestic automakers, which managed to lose billions of dollars when U.S. sales came to 16 million or more a year, now are largely turning a profit at an annual industry sales rate around 11 million.

How are they doing it?

Automakers are benefiting from customers' opening their wallets wider. Consumers are paying higher transaction prices and sometimes buying more vehicle than they were willing to a year ago. Sales of high-margin SUVs, crossovers and pickups are rebounding faster than sales of cars, especially small cars.

In addition, automakers' discipline is paying off. Cutting overhead and curbing overproduction have led to tighter inventories, smaller incentives and higher profit margins.

"It's all these things working in concert," said Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting at J.D. Power and Associates. "It's almost like a symphony coming together, which allows us as an industry to actually be profitable at these lower volumes.

"If this discipline can be maintained, I would argue there's a whole lot of money to be made in this industry at a 15 or 16 million unit level," Schuster said.


Not so crazy

Today's level of profitability varies widely.

Chrysler Group, for instance, posted a net loss in the second quarter, though its operating income was positive, and rising, and its cash flow also was positive. General Motors Co. reported a $1.3 billion net profit in the second quarter. Ford Motor Co. had net income of $2.6 billion.

"If you would have asked me five years ago, could Ford make $2 billion in a quarter, a lot of it in North America, if industry sales volumes were 11 million, I would have thought you were crazy," said George Pipas, Ford's lead sales analyst.

The mix of vehicles is part of the reason for higher profits. Customers are more willing to buy better equipped and bigger vehicles than they were last year, and that means transaction prices are up, said Jesse Toprak, analyst at TrueCar.com.

"Last year was sort of the epicenter of the decline in automotive sales," Toprak said. "So the purchases that we saw were extreme need-based purchases. You bought a car that was going to give you the most amount for the least amount of money."


Cars vs. trucks

Today, crossovers such as the Chevrolet Equinox are selling well and are in short supply. Sales of the Equinox, a popular clunkers choice a year ago, fell 20 percent in August but were up 78 percent for the first eight months of 2010.

Pickups, which usually carry a hefty profit margin, are also doing better. Full-sized pickups are up 16 percent through the first eight months of 2010. The segment's share of the overall market has rebounded to 11.1 percent so far this year, up from the single-digit share it dropped to after gasoline prices began spiking in 2008.

Setting aside August's skewed sales, here are some other hints that bottom lines may be doing better than top-line sales numbers:

-- In the first eight months, the brands with the sharpest sales gains are Buick, Cadillac, GMC, Audi and Infiniti -- all high-end, fatter-margin brands.

-- Through August, sales of SUVs, crossovers and pickups are up 14 percent, while car sales are up 4 percent. Cars still lead light trucks in year-to-date totals. But that lead has narrowed to 479,944 units from 748,428 this time last year.

-- Looking at specific segments, budget cars, such as the Hyundai Accent, are down 30 percent in the first eight months. Luxury cars, led by the Mercedes-Benz E-class, are up 19 percent. Premium crossovers, led by the Lexus RX, are up 31 percent.

Whether overall sales rise sharply or continue to bump along at these levels, the key now to maintaining the profit momentum is sticking to the industry's new model. Even though spikes in incentives are common during the summer sell-down season, this year incentives and inventories have remained relatively stable.

Said Pipas: "This summer, as sales and economic indicators have gone sideways, provided a test to the industry to see if it could maintain the discipline."

So far, so good.

August '10...

[airbalancer]

One number I am not surprised is that the Outback is stealing numbers from the Forestor
Outback is nicer to look at IMO, the mpg is bit better

[KEC]

GM's numbers are alright for September. Especially Chevrolet. http://twitter.com/GMblogs/status/26087120753

[Wolverine]

Full numbers for September/10: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/10/01/by-the-numbers-sept-2010-couldnt-wait-until-after-paris-edi/

[Erik]

Way to go, Chrysler!

[sirAQUAMAN64]

Sept. sales: Smile, don't sing
Industry's painfully slow revival cracks 12 million SAAR
Amy Wilson
Automotive News -- October 4, 2010 - 12:01 am ET

It's not quite time to sing "Happy Days are Here Again." But in September, the U.S. auto industry posted its best monthly sales rate in 13 months.

The industry sold 959,049 light vehicles in September -- a year-to-year jump of 29 percent -- for a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 12.2 million, as calculated by the Automotive News Data Center. Last September, inventories were depleted in the aftermath of the federal government's cash-for-clunkers incentive program.

Other than August 2009, when the clunkers program inflated the sales rate to 13.7 million, this September was the first month since September 2008 that the sales rate has surpassed 12 million. The rate in September 2008 also was 12.2 million.

"It's a solid month, another step in a stable, somewhat painful recovery," said analyst Jesse Toprak of TrueCar.com. "This may be a healthier way to recover."

George Pipas, Ford Motor Co.'s lead sales analyst, said September capped the fourth straight quarter of modest recovery in the sales rate.

And modest improvement is just fine at this point, Pipas said. It may keep industry players from falling back into the bad habits -- overproduction and massive incentives -- that led to disaster for so many when U.S. auto sales tanked.

"We're happy with what we're getting," Pipas said. "We're not going to waste a lot of time wishing that things would go quicker."

Among the gainers last month:

-- Ford Motor's sales jumped 40 percent to 160,375. With strong sales of pickups and new vehicles such as the Fiesta subcompact, Ford narrowed its gap behind General Motors Co. and solidified its lead over Toyota Motor Sales for the year.

It now looks as if Ford will maintain the No. 2 spot for all of 2010, said Edmunds.com analyst Ivan Drury. Ford has sold 1.5 million vehicles through September vs. 1.3 million for Toyota.

"It would be very difficult for them to fall down and allow Toyota to get that No. 2 spot again," Drury said.

-- GM's sales rose just 11 percent in September to 173,031, including its four discontinued brands. Sales at GM's four core brands -- Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC -- rose 22 percent. Retail sales of the core brands jumped 39 percent.

Big pickups contributed significantly to the automaker's retail and overall sales improvements in September, said Don Johnson, GM vice president of U.S. sales operations.

-- At Toyota Motor Sales, sales rose 17 percent for September to 147,162. It was a good month, but after a strong start, the pace was erratic, said Bob Carter, Toyota Division general manager.

"Sales were so strong during Labor Day that it felt like 2006 again," Carter said. "But by the end of the month, the pace had slowed to a more typical 2010 level."

-- Chrysler Group posted the biggest year-over-year increase of any manufacturer for the month, rising 61 percent to 100,077.

"Chrysler is benefiting from stable gas prices and the highly visible launch of the redesigned Grand Cherokee," said Edmund's Drury. "As long as consumers are not worried about high fuel costs, Chrysler should be able to maintain a decent sales pace, since 71 percent of Chrysler sales are trucks."

Of the large manufacturers, the biggest gainers for the month were Chrysler, Hyundai Motor America and Ford. The smallest increases came from GM and Toyota. Nissan and Honda were in the middle of the pack.

With three months to go, Toyota's Carter and other manufacturers reiterated their earlier forecasts that 2010 sales would come in around 11.5 million vehicles.

But after the roller-coaster ride of the past two-plus years, auto executives have learned not to count on anything.

"That's a tough one to call," said Timothy Colbeck, senior vice president of sales at Subaru of America, which posted a 47 percent increase for September. "Every time you think you're starting to see momentum build, it seems like something sets us back a little bit."

And while some economic indicators are improving, others remain troubled.

"We're hopeful that the fourth quarter will log a good SAAR," said Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, Ford's chief economist. "But as you know, we have this so-called troika of challenges out there on jobs, housing and credit."

David Barkholz, Ryan Beene and Jesse Snyder contributed to this report

Leader of the pack
5 best monthly SAARs in 2010
1. September: 12.2 million
2. May: 11.8 million
3. March: 11.7 million
4. July: 11.6 million
5. April: 11.5
Source: Automotive News Data Center

[Wolverine]

One must also not forget that September/2009 was the first month after the C4C program, which means that nearly everyone that wanted a new car in trade for their ol' guzzler had already bought it by then. So, of course, Sep/09 numbers against Sep/10 numbers will show an amazing win for the latter.

[articsteve]

8 mos. fleet sales %

Chrysler Group 39,  Ford Motor Co. 34,  GM (cont'd. brands) 31,  Kia Motors 22, Hyundai Motor 19,  Nissan North America 12,  Toyota Motor 9,  American Honda 2

Source: Automakers, industry sources

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101004/RETAIL03/310049998/1422#ixzz11PY4j02O

[Sir Osis of Liver]

8 mos. fleet sales %

Chrysler Group 39,  Ford Motor Co. 34,  GM (cont'd. brands) 31,  Kia Motors 22, Hyundai Motor 19,  Nissan North America 12,  Toyota Motor 9,  American Honda 2

Source: Automakers, industry sources

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101004/RETAIL03/310049998/1422#ixzz11PY4j02O

Without details the percentages are fairly useless.

GM, Ford and Chrysler sell trucks and vans to contractors, businesses, government agencies and the military. Those aren't necessarily low margin deals.

I thought this was interesting though:

They say Honda is looking the other way at retailers who blow out excess inventory in "fleetail" deals -- units sold by the dealer to local daily rental or small-business fleets, sometimes even to the nearby Enterprise Rent-A-Car outpost.

Honda's fleet percentage has hardly budged in 2010 -- it's about 2.4 percent. But that doesn't count fleetail sales, which Honda doesn't disclose, even to its dealers.

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101004/RETAIL03/310049998/1422#ixzz11RQe1NBt