Posts Tagged ‘december car sales’
Incentives down, prices up.
by Joseph Szczesny on Jan.03, 2013
Toyota's Camry nabs the sales crown for 2012.
Automakers have closed the books on 2012 and appear to be carrying enough momentum to continue their recovery in the year ahead. That is likely to mean record profits for both Detroit and foreign manufacturers, according to industry experts – but it could mean fewer discounts and notably higher transaction prices for consumers.
While a few makers have yet to report their final numbers, December appears on track to have yielded a low double-digit gain for the U.S. auto industry, perhaps as much as 15% compared to the final month of 2011. That will likely mean that the past year, as a whole, was the industry’s best since 2006, just before the automotive market – and the economy as a whole – began sliding into recession.
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The annualized rate of sales in December came 15.3 million units basically the same as in November. Nonetheless, the year was a good one for the industry as most carmakers posted solid sales gains – and giving credence to recent forecasts that sales should reach the mid-15 million range for all of 2013.
Meanwhile, average transaction prices soared to an all-time record high last month of $31,228, according to data analyzed by TrueCar.com.
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Tags: Ford Sales, GM sales, auto incentives, auto news, auto sales, average transaction prices, car news, car sales, chrysler sales, december 2012 car sales, december auto sales, december car sales, joe szczesny, thedetroitbureau, toyota sales
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Could set torrid pace going into 2013.
by Joseph Szczesny on Dec.21, 2012
Analysts say strong demand for luxury cars is driving December sales.
December has become a pivotal month for car sales and this December is looking particularly strong with sales up an estimated 15% thanks to a year-end push by luxury carmakers.
In fact, some analysts are predicting that 2012 could end with one of the strongest bursts of buying seen all year, setting a torrid pace going into 2013.
The J.D. Power and Associates’ Power Information Network and LMC Automotive new-vehicle retail selling rate remains robust near the close of 2012, with potential buyers unfazed by the current level of economic uncertainty generated by the fiscal cliff negotiations in Washington D.C.
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December new-vehicle retail sales are expected to come in at 1,152,500 units, which represent a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, or SAAR, of 12.2 million units. December’s selling rate remains strong and is 500,000 units higher than the expected 2012 full-year rate. Retail transactions are the most accurate measurement of true underlying consumer demand for new vehicles. When fleet sales are added in, that could push the SAAR past the 15 million units, the report estimated.
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Tags: auto news, car news, december 2012 car sales, december auto sales, december car sales, joe szczesny, luxury car sales, luxury cars, thedetroitbureau
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Does trend signal economic upturn?
by Paul A. Eisenstein on Jan.05, 2012
The majority of Ford F-150s are now being ordered with 6-cylinder engines.
Fuel prices may be nudging back up again but Americans are once again racing to plunk their money down on pickups, vans and SUVs again, light trucks collectively accounting for 54.8% of the U.S. market last month – with the Ford F-Series wrapping up 2011 as the best-selling vehicle in the country for the 30th year in a row.
While Americans might have been racing to buy small cars and hybrids early in the year, demand clearly slipped as 2011 came to a close, Honda selling just 690 of its Insight hybrids last month, or less than one per dealer.
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Pickups, it turned out, dominated the sales charts, the Chevrolet Silverado slipping into the number two sales slot behind Ford’s F-150, and a range of other trucks – from the newly redesigned Ford Explorer to Chrysler’s relaunched Jeep Grand Cherokee – reporting December gains well into the double-digits.
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Tags: Chevrolet Silverado, Chevy Silverado, Ecoboost, Ford Ecoboost, auto news, car news, chevrolet news, december 2011 f-series sales, december car sales, december truck sales, f-series, ford f-150, ford f-series, ford news, paul a. eisenstein, paul eisenstein, pickup truck sales, pickup trucks, pickups and housing, thedetroitbureau, truck sales
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Toyota, Honda end year down but promise comeback.
by Paul A. Eisenstein on Jan.04, 2012
After setting its third consecutive annual sales record, Subaru will aim for a fourth with new models like the BRZ sports car.
Carmakers celebrated another 10% gain in car sales for 2011 as they finished the year with sales at the best level in years. There were a few notable exceptions, however, as two of Japan’s three largest makers wrapped up 2011 with further sales declines – while promising to turn things around in 2012.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales was 13.6 million units as several manufacturers, including Chrysler, Kia, Hyundai, Subaru and Volkswagen, wrapped up 2011 with impressive gains during December. Kia, for example, posted a 42.6% increase in the final month of the year, while Chrysler sales were up 37.6% increase for December.
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Notably, December saw transaction prices rise to record levels while incentives dipped for the month, following a months-long trend despite the push by some Japanese makers to try to rebuild their market share by putting plenty of cash on the hood.
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Tags: 2011 car sales, Ford Sales, GM sales, auto news, auto sales, car news, car sales, chrysler sales, december 2011 car sales, december car sales, honda sales, paul a. eisenstein, paul eisenstein, subaru sales, thedetroitbureau, toyota sales
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Most makers score gains but Toyota again posts decline.
by Joseph Szczesny on Jan.04, 2011
Ford gains ground in import-friendly California with the new Fiesta.
Car sales finished 2010 on a high note with virtually every manufacturer posting sales increases, and with the seasonally adjusted annual rate of car sales, or SAAR, coming in at a year-high 13.3 million.
The unofficial sales tally for 2010 was over 11.5 million units, with the year finishing stronger than anticipated as recently as 90 days ago, according to Ford sales analyst George Pipas.
The December and year-end sales data also confirmed that General Motors, Ford Motor Co. , Chrysler, Hyundai and Kia had made deep inroads into territory once dominated by Toyota, which saw its sales slip by 5% in December as it finished the year with a small decline in sales.
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The domestic brands all posted double-digit sales increases for the month and for the year, while both Korean brands set sales records and Volkswagen AG, which has struggled for years to figure out the U.S. market enjoyed its best sales since 2003.
Smaller Japanese brands such as Mazda also finished the year with solid sales gains and, in Subaru’s case yet another record. Honda and Nissan also posted increases for the month and the year. Sales by BMW, Audi and Mercedes Benz also increased during 2010.
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Tags: 2010 auto sales, 2010 car sales, auto news, big three car sales, car news, december auto sales, december car sales, detroit car sales, detroit sales, paul a. eisenstein, paul eisenstein, thedetroitbureau, toyota news, toyota sales, toyota sales decline
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December bring best numbers of the year.
by Joseph Szczesny on Jan.04, 2011
Strong demand for products like the Chevrolet Equinox helped GM report a double-digit sales gain.
General Motors and Ford Motor Co. both reported strong sales numbers for December – leading both domestic makers to forecast the pace of the ongoing recovery will continue picking up in 2011.
Ford reports its sales surged 6.7% for December, while GM nudged into double-digit territory, with a 16% jump for the month when compared with December 2009. Preliminary indications are that, for the industry as a whole, December 2010 saw a seasonally-adjusted annual sales rate, or SAAR, of 13.3 million vehicles, which would be the highest monthly figure for all of 2010.
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But the pace seems all but certain to continue picking up, officials with both makers said.
GM predicted total industry sales will reach 13.5 million units in 2011 as the economy continues to improve. That forecast represents a robust 14% improvement over the 11.8 million sales posted for all of 2010, as the industry began to improve from the recession.
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Tags: 2011 auto sales, 2011 car sales, Ford Sales, GM sales, auto news, auto sales, car news, car sales, december car sales, ford news, gm news, paul a. eisenstein, paul eisenstein, thedetroitbureau
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Preliminary numbers “significantly beating expectations.”
by Paul A. Eisenstein on Dec.17, 2010
Unstoppable? The Chevy Camaro is set to outpace the Ford Mustang for the first time since 1978.
Deck the halls … and clear out the garage. December is normally one of the weaker months of the year when it comes to car sales, consumers typically focusing on gifts small enough to fit under the tree. But preliminary signs suggest that, this year, recession weary buyers are spending big, with car sales “significantly beating expectations,” according to J.D. Power and Associates.
Through the first two weeks of the month, dealers tracked by the California-based research firm report that December could, in fact, bring the best retail sales numbers of 2010, an annualized sales rate of 10.8 million.
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Noting that, “Retail transactions are the most accurate measurement of true underlying consumer demand for new vehicles,” Power analysts said that if trends hold, December retail sales will come in at 936,300 cars, trucks and crossovers, a 19% increase from year-ago levels. That would be a “robust finish for 2010,” according to Jeff Schuster, Power’s executive director of global forecasting.
“Even with the possibility that sales in the third week of December may be affected by the recent winter storms, the strength in sales during the second week is expected to continue through the rest of the month,” said Schuster. “As a result, it appears that 2010 will end on a high note.”
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Tags: auto news, auto sales, camaro mustang, car news, car sales, chevy camaro, december auto sales, december car sales, ford mustang, j.d.power, paul a. eisenstein, paul eisenstein, power car sales, thedetroitbureau, toyota sales
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Automakers wrap up worst year since 1970.
by Joseph Szczesny on Jan.06, 2010
Counting retail sales alone, Toyota was America's number one brand in 2009. The Asian maker hopes to keep that momentum going with products like the newly-remade Sienna minivan.
Sales of new cars and trucks weren’t exactly booming during December but the adjusted annual sales rate was still strong enough to suggest that sales finally bottomed out as the U.S. auto industry wrapped up its worst year in nearly four decades.
Carmakers pegged the estimated sales rate at 11.4 million units, which is still well below the sales levels that prevailed before the recession gripped the industry in 2008, but substantially better than what the industry suffered through for most of the past year.
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For all of 2009, sales totaled approximately 10.4 million units, which was only slightly better than the expectation in early 2009 when carmakers were talking about sales in the sub-10 million-unit range – and may reflect the brief, mid-year boost the market got from the so-called Cash for Clunkers program.
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Tags: U.S. auto sales, auto news, auto sales slump, automotive news, car market, car news, december car sales, joe szczesny, thedetroitbureau, us auto industry, us car sales
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