U.S. auto sales surged a modest 3% year over year in March as automakers sold 1.59 million vehicles during the month.
Retail sales growth was not up to the mark that led to the slowdown in sales growth. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate stood at 16.56 million units for the month, which was not only lower than February but the least SAAR in 13 months. Last year in March, the annualized rate was 17.14 million units. The extra two days in the month did not provide the extra bounce to lift sales higher.
Though domestic automakers registered a sales gain, it was lower than analysts’ estimates. The big three – General Motors (GM, Financial), Ford (F, Financial) and Chrysler –”‹ recorded sales hikes of 0.9%, 8% and 8%. The biggest surprise perhaps was that passenger cars sold well, but that came at the cost of denting the crossover and SUV sales and market share. Here’s a closer look at the performance of the automakers.
Performances of the Detroit players
General Motors, Ford and Chrysler each posted healthy gains when it came to commercial vans –”‹ 19.2%, 53.6% and 11.3%. Passenger car sales declined 6.4% as compared to the last year from the same period. As per the report from Autodata, automakers spent $3,110 per vehicle on an average on incentives in the previous month.
General Motors sold 252,128 vehicles, a marginal year-over-year improvement. The company sold fewer vehicles than its rival Ford. The reason for this meager sales gain is low rental deliveries, down 33%. On the contrary, retail sales climbed 5.9%. Even commercial sales spiked a healthy 9%. The Chevrolet brand and GMC brand posted 1.4% and 6.9% sales gains while Cadillac and Buick sales dropped 5.1% and 11.3%.
General Motors’ crosstown rival Ford witnessed 8% sales gain to 254,711 units on the back of robust demand for its pickups and SUVs. Crossovers and SUVs saw a 13% sales hike while the Blue Oval’s pickup trucks and vans witnessed 11.4% sales rise. Lincoln brand sales climbed 11.4% year over year to 9,689 vehicles. Strong corporate sales of the luxury brand was the primary reason behind the sales growth. Apart from this rental fleet customers also supported the numbers.
Chrysler witnessed 8.1% sales growth to 213,187 units sold thereby making it the 72nd straight month of consecutive year-over-year increase. Jeep sales have been impressive, and Jeep remains the company’s top brand. In contrast, the company’s car sales plunged a mammoth 34%. However, this was the best March sales reported by the company since 2006.
Performance of foreign automakers
Nissan (NSANY, Financial) posted an impressive 13% sales hike, beating analyst’s expectations. Total car and light truck sales came in at 163,559 units. The sales gain is attributable to the strong sales of both Nissan and Infiniti divisions, whose sales surged 13% to 149,784 vehicles and 10% to 13,775 units.
The world’s largest automaker, Toyota (TM, Financial), saw its sales plunge, down 2.7% to 219,842 vehicles. Analysts had expected the carmaker to post a sales gain of around 5.6%. Sales of the company’s luxury Lexus brand dipped 2.8 % to 30,198 units. Even Toyota division sales dropped 2.7% to 189,644 vehicles.
Honda (HMC, Financial) saw sales gain despite missing the desired 16.1% sales gain estimates. Deliveries for the automaker rose 9.4% to 138,221 units. While sales of Honda division spiked 10.5% to 123,369 units, Acura division sales surged 1.2% to 14,852 vehicles.
Last word
Although automakers have posted mixed results for March, analysts are pretty optimistic about 2016 saying that sales would improve during the year. It would be backed by growing employment, low fuel prices and cheap credit. It will be interesting to see how the sales chart trends in April for all the automakers.
