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Thursday 5 December 2013

August 2012: Big Jumps Edition

Volkswagen, Honda and Toyota Post Big Gains

If you want evidence that the economy is on the mend, look no further than the string of positive monthly sales reports coming from the auto industry this year. August continues the trend with the vast majority of brands and companies reporting improved sales numbers compared to the same month last year, Volkswagen (+62.54 percent), Honda (+57.88 percent) and Toyota (+47.5 percent) leading the way for major manufacturers.


Honda and Toyota's big gains are easy to explain. Just repeat the line we've been using all summer about these two Japanese giants enjoying the fruits of restored production capacity following last year's onslaught of natural disasters in their home region. Volkswagen's big jump, however, is harder to explain, and looks to be consolidated mostly in the Passat model line where sales jumped from just 314 last August (before the midsize sedan was redesigned) to 10,090 last month. Smaller sales gains from the Golf, Jetta, Beetle, Tiguan and Touareg also contributed.


Another individual model that jumped out at us while compiling the numbers is the Ford Escape. The all-new 2013 Escape is a big departure in both style and content compared to the last generation, which sold very well even into its waning months. We've been curious to know if consumers would embrace the new Escape's slicker shape and higher price. The answer is a resounding yes based on last month's sales of the new model, which totaled 28,188 units, a 36.8-percent improvement compared to last August and a number high enough to make the new Escape one of the industry's best selling models overall last month.


Check out how the entire auto industry did in the monthly sales chart below, and visit our By the Numbers section to see all past months.


*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 27 selling days in August 2012 versus 26 selling days in August 2011, so the change in monthly sales volume will be different than the change in average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company. Also, brands are combined and reported as companies only if their sales figures are released jointly.


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May 2013: Coming Up Roses Edition

Nissan, Ford, Chrysler Lead Gains, Subaru Sets All-Time Record

 


April showers sure do have May sales flowering this year. The numbers for last month are in, and generally speaking, the US market was strong with most automakers reporting higher sales than a year ago. Of those that were in the red, most were only down in the single-digit percent range, and Mitsubishi is a mainstay near the bottom these days thanks to a number of models that left production in the last year. The only surprising poor performance was Infiniti, which reported sales for May down 25.42 percent to 7,899 units sold.


All of the companies we follow reported sales gain in May, led by Nissan North America (+24.69 percent/114,457 sales), Ford Motor Company (+14.02 percent/246,585 sales) and Chrysler Group (+11.03 percent/166,596 sales). General Motors and Toyota Motors Sales also managed to maintain their green ratings with the US automaker posting an increase of 3.11 percent on sales of 252,894 units and Japan's juggernaut rising 2.45 percent on 207,952 units sold.


Of individual brands, Cadillac rose to the top with a 39.88-percent sales increase, all thanks to new sales from the ATS and XTS masking a 41-percent slide in CTS sales. Subaru, no stranger to the top of our table, reported a 34.21-percent sales increase, which set a new monthly record for the brand.


We noticed some interesting items at the model level as well, including the Volkswagen GTI selling 1,284 units, which comes surprisingly close to outselling the standard Golf at 1,593 sold. Speaking of VW, the Passat, Motor Trend's Car of the Year last year, was outsold by the Dodge Avenger: 10,691 to 10,267. The Ford F-Series was up 30.6 percent to 71,604 sold, which is more than twice what the Honda Accord sold (33,218). Scion FR-S sales of 1,937 are nearly triple those of the Subaru BRZ (679), and we're not sure why Honda has to be so cruel by continuing to report each month that the S2000 has sold zero units.


*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 26 selling days in May 2013 and 26 selling days in May 2012, so there is no difference between the change in monthly sales volume and the change in average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company. Also, brands are combined and reported as companies only if their sales figures are released jointly.


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July 2012 - Not Enough Time Edition

Ever hear the expression that there aren't enough hours in the day? For General Motors and Ford, there weren't enough days in July. These two domestics sold fewer vehicles last month than the year before, but they also had two fewer days to work with, July having only 24 selling days to work with this year versus last year's 26. So you may hear some news reports decrying these two automakers for slipping sales, but in actuality, the average number of vehicles that each sold per day in July increased, and that's what really counts.

All that said, both GM and FoMoCo barely did well last month, and some of their brands were legitimately down, including GMC (-9.05 percent by volume), Buick (-14.71 percent) and Lincoln (-10.74 percent). Both the Ford brand and Chevrolet were down by volume (-3.5 and -6.75 percent, respectively), but managed to eke out increases for their daily average sales rate.

Crosstown rival Chrysler Group had no such trouble, posting a healthy 12.55-percent sales gain across its many brands. Not even a resurgent Chrysler, however, can catch up to Honda and Toyota, both of which are still enjoying conspicuously large sales compared to the production-strapped months of summer 2011. A good example of this year's Japanese about face is comparing the difference in sales between FoMoCo and ToMoCo last year and today. In July 2011, Ford sold 50,063 more vehicles than Toyota. Last month, that number shrunk to just 9,068 and Toyota's trajectory suggests it will catch the Blue Oval and pass it in short order.

Check out how the entire auto industry did in the monthly sales chart below, and visit our By the Numbers section to see all past months.

*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 24 selling days in July 2012 versus 26 selling days in July 2011, so the change in monthly sales volume will be different than the change in average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company. Also, brands are combined and reported as companies only if their sales figures are released jointly.


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November 2012: Storm Surge Edition

Pent-Up Demand Lifts Many Automakers

Practically nothing good came of Superstorm Sandy, which made landfall in late October. Along with destroying infrastructure and throwing into turmoil the lives of countless people who never thought their home would go toe-to-toe with a hurricane, Sandy also suppressed auto sales that month. But what Sandy taketh away, pent-up demand for the freedom of personal transport giveth back, as evidenced by the strong month of automobile sales in the US during the month of November.

While low-volume brands like Fiat, Porsche and Smart lead our list, they're followed closely by a number or brands with a bit bigger audience that performed remarkably well. Subaru reported sales up nearly 60 percent to 28,206 units, while BMW saw a 45-percent to 21,213 units. No brand, however, can match the jump in raw number of vehicles sold that Honda reported, the Japanese automaker seeing sales rise 41 percent 104,224 units, a lift of 30,208 units compared to November 2011. Dodge (+32 percent) and Volkswagen (+29 percent) also reported healthy gains, while Toyota added 20,474 sales for an increase of 17 percent.

As for the domestics, Chrysler Group reported a respectable 14 percent rise in sales thanks to the performance of Dodge, which more than offset a 3-percent decline at Jeep. Ford Motor Company posted a 6.5-percent increase, while General Motors reported a 3.4-percent increase thanks to strong numbers from Buick (+22 percent) and Cadillac (+30 percent).

Lastly, we noticed one stand-out performer in this month's sales numbers, and that's the 2012 Honda Civic. Sales of the Civic were up 75.5 percent to 30,075 units, a number that beat the very-difficult-to-dethrone best-selling Camry's 28,765 units. We point this out because reception of the redesigned 2012 Civic was initially less-than-stellar, which led Honda to hastily revise the 2013 model with mechanical and styling tweaks that recent sales suggest, perhaps, weren't necessary, at least this soon.

*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 25 selling days in November 2012 and 25 selling days in November 2011, so there is no difference between the change in monthly sales volume and the change in average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company. Also, brands are combined and reported as companies only if their sales figures are released jointly.


View the original article here

May 2012: Too Good To Be True Edition

Toyota and Honda Outperform Against Backdrop of Earthquake-Related Shortages

Without context, one might think that sales for the U.S. automotive industry in May were off-the-charts good. Look at brands like Toyota and Honda, sales of which were up an astonishing 88.9 and 46.0 percent, respectively. Or look at Chrysler, up an equally incredible 82.34 percent. We're back, baby! Right? Not quite.

The performance of Toyota and Honda, as well as luxury brands Lexus and Acura, can be explained by the fact that one year ago coincides with two months after Japan was rocked with earthquakes and tsunamis that knocked out most of the country's domestic automobile production. By May, Japanese automakers, particularly Toyota and Honda, were running out of inventory to sell that couldn't be replaced. Toyota sales in the U.S. fell nearly 32 percent in May 2011 and Honda by 22.4 percent. Thus, both these automakers are about to put together a string of months that show industry-leading sales increases, but only because those sales are being compared to last summer's drought.

Likewise, Chrysler and Dodge just hadn't hit their sales stride yet at this time last year when sales of all of Chrysler Group were up only 10 percent, buoyed by solid performances from Ram and particularly Jeep. With all of four of its brands now operating on all cylinders, the Chrysler Group finished last month up over 30 percent from May 2011.

And yet, despite all of these positive numbers, despite even General Motors and Ford posting solid increases of 10.9 and 12.6 percent respectively after both experienced dips in April, the industry as a whole is not performing as well as analysts would like. With only a couple brands left to report, it's looking like the seasonally adjusted annualized rate of sales will fall well below analysts' estimates of 14.4 million units, settling somewhere in the range of 13.8 million units, the worst estimate so far this year.

Check out how the entire auto industry did in the monthly sales chart below, and visit our By the Numbers section to see all past months.

*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 26 selling days in May 2012 versus 24 selling days in May 2011, so the change in monthly sales volume will be different than the change in average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company. Also, brands are combined and reported as companies only if their sales figures are released jointly.


View the original article here

December 2012 - New Year's Rockin' Eve Edition

Volkswagen, BMW, Honda End Year On High Notes
Let's get right to it since you're probably still nursing a hangover from New Year's Eve and what you really want to know are not sales results for the month of December, but sales results for the whole of 2012. Patience; that post is coming next, but first you have to sit through this one that focuses just on the twelfth and final month of 2012.

December was actually short on surprises with the likely brands staying near the top of our table. Volkswagen capped the year with a strong 35-percent gain in sales compared to the same month last year, as did BMW, which reported a gain of 39 percent. The gain that Honda reported of nearly 27 percent was perhaps most impressive of the bunch though, considering its much larger volume.

Many of the big mainstream brands reported minor sales gains in the single-digit range, brands like Toyota with 7.04 percent, Chrysler with 6.42 percent, Chevrolet with 3.68 percent and Ford with 2.53 percent.

Jailbreak Iphone Iphone 5s Movie Torrent Software Download Torrent Online Earn By Mobile Popular Search Engines Alltheweb Search Engines Facebook video downloader Torrent Sites Facebook mobile Top Games Amazon Duckduckgo Facebook new account Work And Study In Australia International Hotel Booking Unbelievable Video Google Images Life Insurance Iso certification Adsense Search Engines Altavista Song Video Online Earn Money Website Ibibo Hotel Booking If there were any surprises in December 2012's sales numbers, it was a few of the brands we found in the red. Nissan just missed out on a positive performance with a small decline in sales volume of 3.64 percent (though its daily average sales rate was a positive 0.07 percent). Jeep was also down 8.5 percent, and Kia, a consistently strong performer both in 2011 and 2012, reported sales down 9.71 percent.

Okay, okay, enough with December. We'll get back to finishing up our By the Numbers report on 2012 sales as a whole, so stay tuned.

*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 26 selling days in December 2012 and 27 selling days in December 2011, so there is a difference between the change in monthly sales volume and the change in average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company. Also, brands are combined and reported as companies only if their sales figures are released jointly.

View the original article here

June 2013: Sales Storm Edition

Subaru Surges Ahead Of Accelerating Industry Sales

 


It finally feels like the auto industry has found firm footing on the other side of a river of trouble it's been swimming in for years. An economic crisis, natural disasters and record-breaking recalls are all to blame for sales being up or down for this or that automaker in months past, but as we look back at June and the first half of sales for 2013, it feels like all of the industry's players are finally on an even field now, and it's product versus product from here on out.


Toyota knows this more than most, having survived all three of the aforementioned currents that were dragging it down, and a recent report revealed it intended do everything necessary to keep the best-selling sales crown for the Camry. It's working so far, as Toyota sales were up 10.21 percent in June, with Camry sales topping all passenger cars at 35,870 units.


The second-best-selling car in June, however, was not the Honda Accord, Nissan Altima or even the Ford Fusion. Rather, the Chevy Cruze came in right behind the Camry with sales of 32,871. Coincidentally, it was June 2011 when the Cruze overtook the Camry in sales for a single month, though we expect a healthy serving of fleet sales had something to do with the Chevy's surge both then and now.


The Detroit 3 also posted healthy sales gains last month, with Ford Motor Company sales rising 13.42 percent, Chrysler Group up 8.2 percent and General Motors up 6.47 percent. Nissan North America also performed well with sales rising 12.89 percent, and Honda was not to be outdone, nearly matching Toyota Motor Company's percentage gains with a 9.7-percent increase of its own.


While Jaguar posted the largest sales gain of 58.93 percent in June, its total sales were just 1,637 units. When volume is taken into consideration, no brand was more impressive than Subaru, which posted a 41.63-percent increase on sales of 39,235 units thanks to big bumps from the Forester and Outback, as well as new sales from the XV Crosstrek that seemingly avoided cannibalizing any customers from the standard Impreza, sales of which were flat last month.


*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 26 selling days in June 2013 and 27 selling days in June 2012, so there is a difference between the change in monthly sales volume and the change in average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company. Also, brands are combined and reported as companies only if their sales figures are released jointly.


View the original article here

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