Carmakers from around the world finished April with strong sales in the United States.
Mazda reported its best sales in 20 years, while Subaru, Jaguar Land Rover, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi and Maserati all chalked up double-digit gains. However, it wasn’t sunshine and roses for every automaker as Honda, Kia and Volkswagen, reported sales declines and Volvo remained flat.
“It is often said at Mazda that this business isn’t a sprint, but a marathon, and our sixth-generation vehicles prove that a steady pace will establish growth and build our brand,” said Ron Stettner, vice president of sales, MNAO. “Sixth-generation vehicle sales combine to be up 14% year-over-year and we continue to focus on the quality of our sales.” Overall, Mazda’s April sales were up 7.5%.
Hyundai also posted record sales after a 6% sales increase as the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales, hovered, near 17 million units after slumping in March.
BMW turned in a 6.9% increase last month riding sales of the 2 Series, which was up 38.8%. The German maker’s Mini brand reported an even stronger result with a 24.7% sales jump in April.
Not to be outdone in the “good sales news” department, Mercedes-Benz reported an increase of 12.8%. The C-, E- and M-Class model lines led the way for the German maker last month. The C-Class took the top spot at 6,665, up 30.3% from 5,114 in April 2014. The M-Class, best-seller on the light truck side, followed with a 29.1% gain to 4,945 units, while the E-Class rounded out the top three with sales of 3,466.
Year-to-date in 2015, Jaguar Land Rover U.S. sales are up 19% from 2014. For the full year 2014, Jaguar Land Rover U.S. sales were up with 67,238 units sold in 2014 compared to 66,962 in 2013. For the full year 2014 the Land Rover brand established an all-time annual high for U.S. sales of 51,465.
“Jaguar Land Rover’s world class products including Range Rover and F-TYPE continue to resonate in the marketplace helping us achieve our best April since 2005,” said Joe Eberhardt, President and CEO of Jaguar Land Rover North America.
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“We are particularly pleased that Land Rover was able to achieve its highest April sales level in U.S. history and that on the Jaguar side, the 16MY F-TYPE contributed to a great sales month,” he said.
On the down side, Kia was up against a record sales number from a year ago and fell just short of beating it by just 395 vehicles in April. The biggest drop in their line-up was from the Soul, which was down 2,985 vehicles compared to the year-ago period.
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Despite a mighty month from the new Golf, which was up 206% compared with last April, VW’s struggles in the U.S. continued as it saw overall sales fall 2.7%. That was the same number that Honda also saw sales slump 2.7%, although it did see its light truck sales mirror those of other automakers rise a bit: 2%. The company’s subcompact Fit garnered the best results with a 55.6% increase year-over-year while the CR-V was up 3.4%.
The company’s luxury unit, Acura, enjoyed a strong month with a 5.3% increase. TLX drove the April increase on sales of 4,093 units for the month; sedan sales are up 29.4 percent since the beginning of the year.
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Other automakers posting increases in April include: Ford, Fiat Chrysler, GM, Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, Lexus and Audi.
