Auto sales in the U.S. car market picked up momentum in April with demand for trucks and SUVs soaring high. While General Motors (GM, Financial) saw negative sales movement for the month, sales at Ford (F, Financial) and Chrysler remained positive. The industry now seems to be all set to break last year’s record of delivering 17.5 million vehicles.
Availability of cheap gas, along with easy car financing and the fact that April had one extra selling day, drove auto sales significantly. Analysts at Kelley Blue Book estimated that the industry sold more than 1.5 million vehicles in April to U.S. customers, up 4% from last year comparable month. The industry did not rely on incentives this time. The robust sales gain was all due to the strong customer demand. Buyers bought vehicles at record prices.
Jeff Schuster, senior vice president with LMC automotive in Troy said: “It’s a very nice rebound from the softness we saw in March,” He further added “The U.S. economy is set up pretty well to weather the global slowdown. The next several months will be the real test.” Here’s a detailed look at the performance of the automakers in April.
Performance of the U.S. automakers
The top U.S. automaker General Motors saw 3.5% sales decline by selling 259,557 vehicles in April. Daily rental sales plunged. The company’s four major brands failed to impress. The company delivered to the private buyers 200,656 vehicles, up 3% from the same period last year.
Data from Goodcarbadcar
Crosstown rival Ford reported strong sales gain, up 4% year-over-year delivering 229,739 vehicles. The F-Series had put up a good show, selling 70,000 vehicles for the second consecutive month, up 13% year-over-year. Ford Explorer saw 22% sales gain. Ford’s overall performance was also supported by the huge volumes of sales of its SUVs, up 7.7% from the same period last year.
Data from Goodcarbadcar
Fiat Chrysler Automobile sold 199,631 vehicles in April, up 6% year-over-year. The sales gain was due to double-digit sales growth of Jeep and Ram brands, up 17% and 12%. This month was the best month for the company in a decade. Moreover, the company is estimating the U.S. auto industry to hit record sales number of nearly 18 million (estimated to sell 17.9 million units) this year, which is a positive sign.
Performance of the other auto makers
The world’s largest auto maker Toyota (TM, Financial) witnessed 3.8% sales improvement on the back of solid sales gain of its small SUV RAV4, up 32% year-over-year. By contrast, Lexus luxury brand did not sell well, down 4% to 24,882 vehicles. Toyota division sales spiked 5%.
Nissan (NSANY, Financial) experienced sales gain topping analysts’ expectations. Sales rose 13% for the month of April. Light truck sales surged 10%, while car sales were at its peak with Sentra and Altima witnessing sales gain of 12% and 29%. Honda (HMC, Financial) sales also climbed 14% beating analysts’ expectations of 10%.
Last word
April sales indeed provided the required boost and momentum to the industry, thanks to the robust demand for trucks and SUVs. The biggest positive drawn from the month was that customers were ready to spend money on their new vehicles and sales were not incentive driven. Jessica Caldwell, Edmund.com analyst said: “Considering that April is typically the calm before the storm of summer sales, there’s every reason to believe that 2016 will be a year for the history books.” It would be interesting to see how the sales chart trend in the remaining year. For now, let’s stay tuned for the May stats.
