If the U.S. auto industry is on the way to a big correction this year, there are certainly no immediate signs of it.
If the U.S. auto industry is on the way to a big correction this year, there are certainly no immediate signs of it. Please note that March 2016 had two more selling days than March of 2015, so while some of the improvements look rather explosive, they're actually not quite as dramatic as they seem on paper.
As usual, FCA was quick out of the gate with results. Dodge, Ram and Jeep were all up; Chrysler, Fiat and Alfa Romeo were all down. Slumping demand for the 200 continues to hit Chrysler hard, while Dodge has improved dramatically on paper ever since the Avenger was dropped from its ledgers. GM was a similarly mixed bag, with Cadillac down and Buick down but Chevrolet and GMC improving.News was better for Ford, who was uniformly up in March (and is for the year as well) with strong year-over-year growth for F-Series anchoring an excellent month for both brands. Nissan and Infiniti both had strong months as well.
Audi's consecutive streak remains alive with a 7.5 percent bump in March while. Honda had a very strong month from its core brand while Acura held steady with a 1.2 percent increase. We won't even get into Volkswagen.
Mazda took a healthy beating in March, too, posting a 27.2 percent drop vs. a year ago thanks to the discontinuation of the Mazda5 and a huge hit to CX-9 sales as dealers await deliveries of the new model.
In the luxury segment, we now have results from all three players. Toyota's luxury arm racked up 30,198 sales in March, followed by BMW at 30,033. The stalwarts from Stuttgart managed 28,212.
In fact, the only brand in the Toyota empire to have a good March was Scion, which is a bit of a head-scratcher. Sales were up 64.1 percent at the doomed youth brand, while Toyota itself slipped more than four percent.
Subaru, which has been on a roll for quite some time, seems to finally be giving up some momentum. They remained up in March, but only by less than one percent despite the longer selling month. Volvo's gains have also come down from the stratosphere, but remained fairly healthy.
Kia was on the negative side of flat in March, but set a first-quarter record on a 3.7 percent increase YTD.
That's a wrap, folks.
March year-over-year:
- Acura up 1.2%, 14,852
- Alfa down 27% , 53
- Audi up 7.5%, 18,392
- Bentley down 52% , 119
- BMW down 12.5% , 30,033
- Buick down 11.3% , 18,207
- Cadillac down 5.1% , 13,053
- Chevrolet up 1.4%, 176,283
- Chrysler down 13% , 26,236
- Dodge up 11%, 51,149
- Fiat down 24% , 3,422
- Ford up 7.8%, 245,022
- GMC up 6.9%, 44,585
- Honda up 10.5%, 123,369
- Hyundai flat, 75,310
- Infiniti up 10%, 13,775
- Jaguar up 28.5%, 2,133
- Jeep up 15%, 82,337
- Kia flat, 58,279
- * Lamborghini up 2.4%, 86
- Land Rover up 28.8%, 8,733
- Lexus down 2.8% , 30,198
- Lincoln up 11.4%, 9,689
- Maserati flat, 997
- Mazda down 27.2% , 23,396
- ** Mercedes-Benz down 5.9% , 28,164
- MINI down 18.3%, 4,762
- Mitsubishi up 13.4%, 11,078
- Nissan up 13%, 149,784
- Porsche up 0.7%, 4,323
- Ram up 11%, 49,990
- Scion up 64.1%, 7,261
- smart down 17.78%, 479
- Subaru up 0.4%, 49,285
- *Tesla up 18.4%, 2,250
- Toyota down 4.3%, 182,383
- Volkswagen down 10.4%, 26,914
- Volvo up 15.9%, 6,857
2016 year-to-date
- Acura down 4.5% , 37,875
- Alfa down 22% , 169
- Audi up 4.6%, 41,960
- Bentley down 51.5% , 262
- BMW down 10% , 70,613
- Buick up 7.5%, 54,287
- Cadillac down 4.1% , 35,633
- Chevrolet down 0.8% , 472,730
- Chrysler down 20% , 65,506
- Dodge up 14%, 140,509
- Fiat down 18% , 9,009
- Ford up 8.3%, 620,721
- GMC up 1%, 121,048
- Honda up 8.7%, 319,828
- Hyundai up 0.8%, 173,330
- Infiniti down 3.5% , 32,660
- Jaguar up 15.2%, 4,997
- Jeep up 17%, 209,597
- Kia up 3.7%, 146,321
- *Lamborghini up 2.4%, 258
- Land Rover up 22.6%, 20,805
- Lexus down 3.8%, 74,221
- Lincoln up 16%, 24,905
- Maserati up 16.6%, 2,250
- Mazda down 17.2% , 64,643
- ** Mercedes-Benz down 3.1%, 75,769
- MINI down 15.2%, 10,839
- Mitsubishi up 6%, 25,212
- Nissan up 10.1%, 367,544
- Porsche up 7%, 12,238
- Ram up 14%, 126,313
- Subaru up 0.9%, 132,397
- Scion up 52.3%, 18,242
- smart down 15.2% , 1,300
- *Tesla up 13.6%, 6,475
- Toyota down 2% , 476,616
- Volkswagen down 12.5% , 69,314
- Volvo up 19.2%, 16,361
* Based on estimates from Automotive News.
** NOT including Sprinter
Note that last month's highlights and lowlights listed below are merely a selection of some of the month's bigger movers.
Highlights (sales up > 40%)
Chevy Volt, up 191.9% to 1,865
Chrysler Town & Country, up 148% to 13,586
Nissan Maxima, up 138.7% to 6,588
Dodge Caravan, up 117% to 12,925
Nissan Quest, up 94.8% to 1,763
Mitsubishi Mirage, up 65.3% to 4,113
Volkswagen Tiguan, up 53% to 3,519
Chevy Colorado, up 46.8% to 9,718
Lowlights (sales down > 30%)
Chrysler 200, down 68% to 6,176
Buick LaCrosse, down 48.6% to 2,275
Infiniti Q70, down 46.7% to 577
Volkswagen Golf, down 42.8% to 1,069
Lexus GS, down 40.6% to 1,524
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