Historically sales of new cars are at their lowest in January every year. Not surprising really after the holidays.
That’s why yesterday’s reports on sales of new vehicles in January were so encouraging. True, they were still lower than December but sales were the highest for the month of January since 2008. If the improvement in sales continues on the upward path it has the past few months we could see the industry end up selling as many new cars and trucks as it did in 2008 — the year sales of vehicles tanked in the second half of the year as the great recession took hold.
There is a lot to cheer about – Chrysler was a clear winner with sales of its brands up by an incredible 44 percent compared to January 2011. It’s worth noting that a year ago Chrysler also showed the strongest growth among the three US companies. Ford did well last month, but not as well as Chrysler. GM on the other hand saw its sales decline this January compared to last year. It was still ahead of where it was in 2009 but nonetheless this was a disappointment for fans of GM. Heck, the Toyota Camry outsold the Chevrolet Silverado, which might be the first time that’s ever happened.
Mazda’s sales improvement in January was even more impressive than Chrysler’s as it saw its sales increase by 68 percent. To be fair it was the only company to have a miserable January last year. Nonetheless it was Mazda’s best January since 1994.
Volkswagen can go even further back as it had its best January since 1974 with a sales improvement of 48 percent. Those of you old enough will remember that back in 1974 VW was still the import king. That year VW sold 336,257 cars – mostly Beetles. It’s a sales level VW has not seen since. To put that in perspective; Honda, the new kid on the block, only sold 41,719 cars in 1974 and did not overtake VW in sales until 1978.
Mercedes-Benz easily outsold its direct competitors last month with its best ever January sales. Sales of the C-Class were up 56 percent but it still did not quite manage to outsell the BMW 3-series. It was probably the last chance for the C-Class to trounce its arch-rival as the new BMW 3-series will be on sale soon.
Other companies reporting record January sales included Audi, Hyundai, and Kia.
Economists seemed to be particularly excited by the unexpected strength of car sales in January as they suggest it is a good indication that the US economy is finally on a rebound. What do you think? Are you ready to buy a new car to replace that old car you’ve been relying on for longer than you planned?
Related posts:
- January New Vehicle Sales Off to Good Start for 2011
- Sales Analysis – Mixed First Half of the Year
- BMW Outsells Audi and Mercedes-Benz in July
No comments:
Post a Comment