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February 2011 Sales and Analysis

John Suit — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:00:52 +0000

February was a great month for new-car sales, with the total volume up 21.28% over January, and almost 27% over February of 2010. Those are the overall numbers, but the general trend for February was that American car companies had a good time, while most of their overseas competitors struggled. Click past the jump for my analysis and graphs.

Month-to-month, the big winners were Dodge, Ford, Honda, Nissan, RAM and Toyota. Year-to-year, all of GM’s brands (Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC), as well as Ford, Hyundai, Nissan, RAM and Toyota had significant increases. While that may not mean a lot, it shows that cars built in North America are selling at a much better pace than those built in Europe and Asia. There may be a lot of reasons for this, but I suspect the main one is pricing. The economy still hasn’t regained a lot of its strength, so buyers are wary of spending much over $40,000, which is where a lot of BMW and Mercedes-Benz products land. Accords, Altimas, Camrys, Fusions and Sonatas are the bulk of sales for their respective companies, and with gas prices on the rise again, look for smaller cars to win out in the next few months.

Meanwhile, the surprise was RAM, which sold over 20,000 vehicles in February, a feat I doubt it will best if gas prices stay high.

On the negative side of things, Audi, Jaguar, Mercedes, Porsche, Saab and Suzuki had less sales in February than they did the previous month. While Suzuki is nowhere near a luxury marque, the rest shows just how soft the luxury market is right now. BMW had a minuscule 500-car increase in sales from January to February, which hardly counts during a month which saw 20-30% increases in month-to-month sales for some of its competitors.

With 1.8-million vehicles already sold this year in America, I’m going to stick with my 12.5-13 million new-car sales prediction. The actual number of sales may be helped or hurt by rising gas prices, as more truck owners may want to make a trade in order to gain fuel economy.

by John Suit

Sales Figures: October, 2010

John Suit — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 18:00:05 +0000

The spookiest month of the year is over … and it wasn’t scary for most automakers. Sales were down just a hair from September, which I expected, as schools get into full swing and most people start shopping for the holidays. I don’t expect sales to pick back up until closer to the new year, with some people receiving transportation as a gift, and any leftover 2010 models having their prices slashed.

GMC and Lexus saw significant month-to-month increases, while most of the rest saw their sales numbers stay flat. In some cases, however, flat sales weren’t a bad thing – Chrysler, for instance, saw over 28,000 sales, which is being propped up by its new 2011 Grand Cherokee SUV.

Chevrolet saw a modest increase of about 3,000 vehicles, which can be attributed to its Cruze going on sale. Nissan, meanwhile, saw a continuance of its roller coaster of a year, with just under 62,000 vehicles sold in October, down 4,000 from September.

Overall, the industry has sold just over 9.5-million vehicles, and with only two months left in the year, it’ll be interesting to see if the market can buy up 2 more million vehicles in November and December, to meet my earlier prediction of 11.5-million new-cars sold in 2010. If sales stay close to where they’ve been or continue the downward slide started after July, we’re looking at closer to 11-million sales, but no more.

Oh, and before I forget: Lexus took back the luxury sales crown from Mercedes in October, giving their German rivals only a single month to hold onto it.

by John Suit

Sales Figures: September, 2010

John Suit — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 14:00:05 +0000

Well, the 3rd quarter of 2010 is over, and sales are down, yet again, for the U.S. automotive industry. While all the other news outlets are saying sales were up 29% in September year-to-year, sales were down when viewed month-to-month. While there is 1 less day in September than there is in August, this doesn’t account for a 3.32% drop (almost 33,000 vehicles) from month to month. Read on for my analysis and graphs.

Sales have totaled just 8.6-million units this year for the entire industry, putting it on a path to almost 11.5-million vehicles, which is about a million more vehicles than were sold in 2009. While this is good news, the fact that September sales were less than August’s is startling, as more and more 2011 model year vehicles are showing up on dealer lots, so all the 2010s should be drastically discounted, which usually leads to a boost in sales from August through October. What actually happened was a dip in the month-to-month sales, which doesn’t bode well for the coming fall season. Hopefully December’s sales can pick up, with all of the holiday season and end-of-year blowouts that occur.

As for each manufacturer’s sales, GM still holds its lead over cross-town rival Ford, which had a larger gap this month over Toyota, who beats all of its Japanese rivals handily, even besting Honda by almost 40,000 vehicles sold. Overall, Ford, Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi and Saab all gained, while the rest had lower sales in September than in August. For Ford, this can be attributed to sales of the Fiesta, Chrysler’s 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and renewed interest in Saab since its sale to Spyker Automobiles. Mercedes-Benz’s uptick in sales is an odd one, as all the other luxury marques lost a bit of momentum.

Speaker of Mercedes, their sales have actually bested Lexus’ for the first time this year, as they take the lead by a margin of less than 300 vehicles sold year-to-date. This makes them the current top luxury automaker in the U.S., ahead of BMW and Lexus, their biggest rivals.

Now to the future. I’m predicting less sales in October, probably closer to 900,000 than the 958,993 vehicles sold in the US in September. School is back in session and parents’ priorities and spending will be shifting to the holidays. I also see sales picking up in December, and maybe a slight uptick in November as well.

by John Suit

UPDATE: Swedish speeder fined $1,014,585

John Suit — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:45:57 +0000

In an update to a story I wrote about earlier this week, the Swedish government has handed down “300 days of fines”, or £2,166 daily, for a total of £650,000. Translated into USD, that amounts to $1,014,585. And remember, this is based on his speed and income! Also featured in the update: the model of the Mercedes the 37-year old driver was piloting; the brand new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, pictured above, which I wrote about before.

by John Suit

Source: The Guardian, thanks for the tip JJ!

Swedish Speeder could face $962,000 fine

John Suit — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:00:17 +0000

A 37-year old Swedish driver, who has remained unnamed, was caught speeding in his “black Mercedes-Benz”, which cost $240,000, at 180 mph. This points me in the direction of the new SL65 AMG, which retails at around $200,000 USD. According to officials, that could be a record for the country, and the driver faces a fine of up to $1 million Swiss francs, or $962,000 USD, based on the Swedish government’s formula which fines speeders based on their speed and income level.

While older speeding cameras in Sweden only work up to 125 mph; anything faster than that doesn’t record a violation, the speeder drove past one of the newer cameras, which work in excess of 125 mph. After the flash, the driver apparently needed over a half mile of roadway before he could come to a stop, although he claims that the speedometer was faulty.

by John Suit

Source: MSNBC Europe

New Mercedes SLS AMG drives upside down!?

John Suit — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:00:36 +0000

Mercedes-Benz has long been known for well-crafted automobiles. Their AMG division is well-known for taking those automobiles and upping the ante, both in performance and looks. For the first time, AMG has designed a car from the ground up, and it’s called the SLS AMG. With gullwing doors like the classic MB 300SL Gullwing of the past and a modern drivetrain, the SLS AMG looks to be a super fast, great-looking car.

The question with a car like this, in today’s media-rich environment, is how to market the car? Mercedes-Benz got famed race car driver Michael Schumacher to drive an SLS AMG through a tunnel. The trick is that he didn’t stay on the tunnel’s road surface. Instead, he drove up a ramp to the ceiling of the tunnel and back down before exiting. How is this possible? It might not be – it could be a video-editing trick – but MB says the aerodynamics of the SLS AMG are such that the drive could be possible. Either way, it’s a neat video to watch. Skip to 2:10 in the first video to see the drive, but watch the whole video for some under-the-hood scenes. The second video features the tunnel trick, and is more of a promotional video than the first.

by John Suit

Source: YouTube via AutoBlog; Image Source: Mercedes-Benz