The holiday season got off to an early start for automakers, writes Bill Cawthon. Ward’s reports Americans snapped up nearly 1.26 million light vehicles last month, an 8.8% improvement over November 2002. Year-to-date (YTD) sales now trail 2002 by about 1.1%.
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GM got a huge boost, proving incentives haven’t yet lost their magic. Based on daily sales rates, November sales were up 22.3%, with both cars and light trucks bringing in solid improvements.
With one less selling day in November 2003, Ford and Chrysler posted modest advances of 1.3% and 2.9%, respectively, though their actual volumes trailed those of a year ago.
Ford got a big boost from Volvo, which enjoyed record sales last month. BMW Group, Porsche and Toyota set their own records, while Nissan and Infiniti scored double-digit gains. Volkswagen had its best November in thirty years.
Acura and Honda SUVs racked up record numbers, but Honda’s flagship Accord and Civic continue to stumble. YTD Civic sales are off 4.2%.
The Hondas aren’t alone; the Toyota Camry took an even larger tumble, though it is still in first place among passenger cars. Light trucks are bringing home the bacon for Toyota and Lexus as almost all their car lines are well behind their 2002 YTD numbers.
One of Toyota’s winners is the Sienna minivan, which made a 136% leap from also-ran to second place, just behind the segment-leading Dodge Caravan. While the Sienna has undoubtedly taken some sales from Chrysler, it has knocked the wind out of the Honda Odyssey.
Daewoo has returned to America, although in stealth mode as a GM subsidiary. The new Kalos hit dealer lots as the Chevrolet Aveo last month. Suzuki is selling the Magnus and Nubira as the Verona and Forenza. While the Suzuki models are so far yielding sales numbers last seen during the old Daewoo’s final days, the Aveo got a good start with 3,442 sales.
SUVs grabbed 29.4% of light vehicle sales, a new record. Surprisingly, the gains came at the expense of pickups. Market share for minivans and passenger cars were largely unchanged from October.
Although the pickup segment shrank in November, the big pickups from Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge didn’t give an inch. With more than three-quarters of a million sales in the first eleven months of 2003, the Ford F-Series could probably take December off and still be America’s favorite vehicle. The Silverado is equally secure in second place and it’s likely the big trucks will sweep the top three sales positions for the year.
Despite GM’s strong performance, Detroit automakers lost ground in November. Based on sales volume, total Big Three market share dropped below 60% again and foreign brands captured a record 56.2% of passenger car sales. More troubling to Motor City executives is the imports also took 39% of minivan sales and 37% of SUV sales.
Automakers are hoping for a repeat of last year’s strong December. Combining an improving economy and rising consumer confidence with holiday incentives, they just might get their wish.
