May sales: Erratic results continue as industry seeks balance

2018\'s ups and downs continue.

2018 has been a wild ride for the auto industry, and it's showing no signs of stopping. With summer coming to the States (kicking off with the Memorial Day weekend--a staple for retail sales) May-June is traditionally a pretty good time of the year for automakers. Not everybody is celebrating this week, but those who are have good reason. Let's dig in.

With GM no longer reporting monthly sales (We'll get quarterly results from them after June wraps.), the domestic landscape looks a little weirder than it probably is. FCA had a blowout month, which is to say that Jeep had a blowout month. It's no wonder the company's car brands are all but doomed. Ford had a positive May, but nothing we'd consider spectacular.

Making a much bigger splash was Mazda, who reported an improvement of 15% for the month (and nearly that much YTD, which is even more remarkable). It wasn't enough to score another victory over VW, but it was yet another more-than-solid month in what is proving to be a transformational year for the plucky little Japanese favorite.

Speaking of the Germans, Audi had a close brush with a negative month, finishing only 0.6% ahead of last May--a difference of just 118 units. In the higher-volume end of the luxury segment, only Lexus numbers have come in so far. Toyota's premium division was down close to 4%, on a volume of just under 26,000--not enough to take the month from Mercedes-Benz. The same can be said of BMW, which finished between them.

And that's a wrap.

May, 2018

• Acura down 8%, 12,819
• Alfa up 159%, 2,377
• Audi up 0.6%, 19.315
• Bentley down 21.4%, 165
• BMW up 3.3%, 26,662
• **Buick
• **Cadillac
• **Chevrolet
• Chrysler down 18%, 14,724
• Dodge up 4%, 46,581
• Fiat down 46%, 1,441
• Ford up 1%, 233,069
• Genesis down 38.6%, 1,076
• **GMC
• Honda up 4.3%, 140,250
• Hyundai up 11.5%, 64,980
• Infiniti down 7.1%, 11,625
• Jaguar down 24%, 2,366
• Jeep up 29%, 97,287
• Kia up 1.6%, 59,462
• *Lamborghini up 2.3%, 90
• Land Rover up 42%, 7,103
• Lexus down 3.9%, 25,931
• Lincoln down 5.2%, 9,755
• *Maserati down 24.9%, 950
• Mazda up 15.1%, 29,980
• **Mercedes-Benz up 0.3%, 26,976
• MINI up 4%, 4,226
• Mitsubishi up 31.7%, 12,416
• Nissan down 3.8%, 120,207
• Porsche up 4.2%, 5,005
• Ram up 2%, 51,884
• smart down 66.8%, 110
• Subaru up 7.2%, 60,146
• *Tesla up 36.4%, 6,000
• Toyota down 1.5%, 189,930
• Volkswagen up 4%, 31,211
• Volvo up 50.6%, 9,338

2018 YTD

• Acura down 2.9%, 58,121
• Alfa up 271%, 10,016
• Audi up 5.9%, 88,471
• Bentley down 12.2%, 817
• BMW up 3.2%, 123,979
• **Buick
• **Cadillac
• **Chevrolet
• Chrysler down 9%, 75,146
• Dodge down 6%, 204,
• Fiat down 45%, 6,859
• Ford down 1.9%, 1,006,321
• Genesis down 22%, 6,466
• **GMC
• Honda down 1.5%, 583,140
• Hyundai down 6.7%, 264,529
• Infiniti down 8.1%, 61,472
• Jaguar down 30%, 12,434
• Jeep up 22%, 408,033
• Kia down 1%, 236,992
• *Lamborghini up 2.3%, 450
• Land Rover up 26%, 37,797
• Lexus up 111, 250
• Lincoln down 13.4%, 40,735
• *Maserati down 20.7%, 4,613
• Mazda up 14.9%, 137,031
• ***Mercedes-Benz down 0.2%, 132,657
• MINI up 3.9%, 18,490
• Mitsubishi up 19.7%, 56,178
• Nissan down 5.8%, 574,127
• Porsche up 6.4%, 24,529
• Ram down 10%, 208,612
• smart down 70.2%, 524
• Subaru up 4.1%, 263,019
• *Tesla up 36.4%, 30,000
• Toyota up 3.0%, 868,460
• Volkswagen up 7.5%, 143,957
• Volvo up 40.9%, 37,754

*Automotive News estimate**GM no longer reports monthly sales figures***Excludes Mercedes-Benz Vans