February United States sales results continued 2004’s improvement over last year, writes Bill Cawthon. Ward’s Auto reported that light vehicle sales were up 4.8%, putting year-to-date (YTD) sales 4% ahead of the first two months of 2003.
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The good news was shared among most domestic and import [foreign-owned] manufacturers. GM enjoyed the largest boost of the Detroit carmakers, up 5.7%. Chrysler had a smaller increase, but was happy with five consecutive months of improving sales. Ford posted a 2.6% decline, which it blamed on reduced fleet sales, but reported a small rise in retail sales. Both GM and Chrysler were helped by improved sales of passenger cars.
Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz posted February records, as did Lexus and Acura. Combined sales of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles were up over 46% in February. Mazda sales were up over 18%. Volvo enjoyed its 15th month of growth. Porsche drove its pricey Cayenne luxury SUV to an 86% improvement.
While reporting record sales as a group, BMW is having troubles as a brand here in the US. YTD car sales are down 14.7%, despite good results from the fully redesigned 5-series. BMW is now fourth among luxury marques, behind Lexus, Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz. Fuelled by positive reviews and generous incentives, Cadillac is now second in 2004 luxury vehicle sales and goes into March leading Mercedes by exactly four units.
Volkswagen continues to struggle. Traditionally America’s favourite European marque, its sales have plummeted 27% this year, dropping the brand to third behind BMW and Mercedes.
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By GlobalDataWolfsburg may want to rethink its schedule for getting updated core market cars, like the Passat and the Mexican-made Jetta [Bora], into its dealers’ inventories while American buyers won’t even see the redesigned Golf – now in European showrooms – until mid-2006. Current US-market Golfs are mostly made in Brazil.
The model names at the top of the February sales charts were pretty much the same as usual, with only a few places traded. Ford’s big F-Series and Chevrolet’s Silverado pickup truck lines kept the top two spots, but Toyota’s Camry sedan, coupe and convertible car range beat the Dodge Ram pickup for third. The top three cars were all Japanese: Camry, Honda Accord and Civic. In spite of lower fleet sales, the now aged Ford Taurus – last refreshed for the 2000 model year – recaptured its place as top American car.
February saw a slight resurgence of passenger car sales and a small drop for SUVs. Sales of GM’s heavily promoted gargantuan Hummer are down 27% so far this year. Ford’s almost-as-large Expedition and Excursion SUVs also missed their 2003 marks.
It would be tempting to draw a correlation between these numbers and the near-record average US petrol prices (regular 87-octane ‘gas’ was selling for a record-breaking $US2.19 in San Diego this week), but sales of other large SUVs remain solid.
However, with petrol averaging well over $2 per gallon all over California, which often has the US’s priciest petrol and is America’s largest new vehicle market, this could be a factor in coming months, especially if the trend continues into the summer travel season, for which energy industry analysts forsee prices close to $3 a gallon in some areas.
Incentive fever up has now spread to the import brands, with several offering consumer or dealer programmes. Any talk of easing off incentives is becoming unrealistic; there’s little hope of cutting them without taking a large hit in sales. A recent study reports most consumers now base new vehicle purchases on incentives, with over a third of those surveyed saying they wouldn’t buy at all without them.
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