US light vehicle sales plunged 14.1% year on year (adjusted for selling days) to 1,392,577 cars and trucks last month.
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Unsurprisingly, given grim recent tales of gas-guzzling pickup trucks and SUVs taking root on dealer forecourts, these dropped 26.5% to 593,622 while car sales were off just 1.5% to 798,955 – unit volume was actually up 17,600 before WardsAuto.com’s daily selling rate adjustment. But Ford and GM trucks are still in the US top-three best sellers’ list, year to date.
Domestic car sales were off 5.1% to 533,771 units while import (brands) rose 6.4% to 265,184.
Import trucks were down 14.6% to 107,187 and the home team count was 486,435, down 28.7%.
Year to date, car sales were down just 0.2% to 3,202,231 (domestics off 2.0% at 2,163,611; imports up 3.9% to 1,038,620) while trucks were down 15.8% to 2,996,251 (domestics fell 17.1% to 2,475,853; imports 9.2% to 520,398.
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By GlobalDataOverall, total light vehicle sales are now down 8.4% YTD to 6,198,482 with the domestic brands off 10.7% to 4,639,464 and imports down just 0.9% to 1,559,018.
Nervously clicking the ‘sales by company’ tab, reveals domestic brand carnage. General Motors fared worst in May, plunging 30.2% to 268,990 units (15.9% YTD to 1,327,454), followed by Chrysler off 28.4% to 148,265; (YTD 19.6% to 747,820) and Ford off 18.7% to 213,644 (YTD 11.2% to 979,083).
North American brands were off 26.4% to 630,924 units in May and 15.4% to 3,054,470 year so far.
“There is a new era emerging in the restructuring of the American economy. There is an unprecedented shift in the industry that is challenging, but we are determined to provide consumers what they need and want,” Chrysler vice chairman and president Jim Press said.
Asian brands overall fell just 0.2% to 671,683 in May with Honda up 11.3% to 167,997 (Civic sales rose 28.3% year on year to 53,299), Nissan up 4.4% to 100,887 but Toyota down 7.9% to 257,404. Subaru was up 9% to 18,436 but Mitsubishi had a grim May, plunging 26.4% to 10,430 units.
YTD, the Asian brands are off just 0.6% to 2,762,046.
“The dramatic increase in car sales appears to be one of the most profound shifts in automotive buying patterns in more than a decade,” said Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda.
“Soaring fuel prices are driving customers to make sensible transportation choices; it’s a new marketplace,” said Jim O’Sullivan, president and CEO of Mazda North America.
Amongst the Germans, Porsche, with a fleet of gas guzzlers, saw May sales plummet 19.6% to 2,796, VW was off 4.4% to 30,880, BMW slipped just 0.7% to 31,781 (actually making a small volume gain) and Daimler was up 8.4% to 24,513.
“In spite of the small decline we saw in May, we see that buyers of premium vehicles remain active in the market. This continues to help keep our turn rates strong and momentum maintained through this difficult period,” said Tom Purves, BMW’s chairman and CEO.
YTD, Germany’s finest are up 1.1% to 381,996 though Porsche is off 14.8% to 12,436 while Daimler is up 10.1% to 108,636.
US makers can still draw some comfort from the individual model tables, though. After five months of a turbulent 2008, Ford’s F-series truck is still the top-selling individual model line (235,924 units) ahead of the Toyota Camry (198,309) while the Chevy Silverado (197,030) is right behind, well ahead of the Honda Accord (166,158).
See also: GOLDING’S TAKE: Be careful what you wish for
Graeme Roberts
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