For the first time all year, not one but two Detroit brands outsold Toyota . Chevrolet and Ford both posted brand sales that exceeded Toyota’s figures, proving that there are some silver linings, at least in Detroit, in the continuously cloudy new car market in the United States.
Toyota wasn’t the only Japanese automaker to post a bigger-than-expected sales decrease; Nissan posted its biggest decline of the year and Subaru posted its first sales slide this year.
We’ll continue to update this space as more automakers release their sales figures. It’s expected that the market as a whole was down more than 30 percent in April 2009 compared to the year prior. Remember that these figures are to be compared against April, 2008, sales. If you’re curious about market trends, you’ll want to compare to January, February and March figures.
The good
The Jeep Wrangler continues its high sales, up 7 percent compared to a year ago and up 14 percent so far this year.
Routan boom? Ironically, Volkswagen ’s Routan minivan posted its best-ever sales month, despite the fact that Chrysler has not built a van for Volkswagen since last year. The Routan was actually VW’s second-best seller last month, selling 2,606 units (for a total of 4,801 sold all year). Given that it has been nine months since VW spokeswoman Brooke Shields suggested couples “get busy,” we wonder if the controversial ads paid off for the automaker?
Audi had a fairly strong April, with sales down just 9.3 percent to 7,010. Audi’s sales were buoyed by strong A4, A5 and Q5 sales, though its other models were down more than 30 percent (aside from the niche R8, which sold 35 units compared to 43 a year before).
Hyundai sales were down 14 percent, the least of any high-volume, non-luxury brand so far. April was the best month ever for the Genesis and the Accent and Sonata both saw 26 and 7 percent increases, respectively.
Both Chevrolet and Ford outsold Toyota for the first time in 2009. Toyota’s 112,345 cars and trucks couldn’t match Chevrolet’s 115,265 or Ford’s 116,263.
Chevy’s Traverse crossover sold a reasonable 8,2004 units, its best month this year, while HHR, Tahoe and Express passenger van sales were all up, as well. Overall GM sales were down 33.7 percent to 173,007 units.
Ford’s Fusion, including the 2009 and redesigned 2010, which recently hit dealers, had its best-ever April with 18,321 units sold.
The bad
Chrysler sales were pretty miserable across the board, other than the Jeep Wrangler. Chrysler and Dodge sales were down 55 and 48 percent, respectively. Things were marginally better at Jeep, where sales dropped off 42 percent for the brand.
Subaru posted its biggest slide so far, a 6.7 percent drop-off in sales. Still, that’s the smallest decline of any major automaker, so things aren’t all bad at Subaru. Sales are down just 0.8 percent this year overall.
Suzuki ’s sales were down 73.7 percent compared to the year before; its year-to-date sales are down 51 percent.
Though sales across the board at GM weren’t too bad, all things considered, three of the four brands it will jettison or close posted greater than 50 percent drops. Hummer sales were down 61.6 percent, Saturn down 56.4 percent and Pontiac down 54.9 percent. Given GM has announced the closure of Pontiac, we’d expect May sales to be much lower than April for the brand.
Sales of the Smart fortwo were down an incredible 49.9 percent compared to the same time last year, when the Smart was still a fresh and new vehicle. Smart sales are still up 2 percent for the year, but is this the beginning of the cooling-off many predicted for the brand?
Toyota Prius sales were down 61.5 percent, reflecting lower inventories ahead of the all-new Prius’ launch in May, as well as reduced demand for hybrid cars as gas prices hover under $2.00 per gallon.
Lincoln sales were down 42.2 percent, a 9 percent drop-off compared to March’s 33 percent slide.
The ugly
Acura , down 32.3 percent to 8,813
Audi, down 9.3 percent to 7,010
BMW , down 29.4 percent to 70,606
Buick , down 29.5 percent to 8,928
Cadillac , down 41.9 percent to 8,337
Chrysler, down 55 percent to 13,874
Chevrolet, down 26.7 percent to 115,265
Dodge, down 48 percent to 43,138
Ford, down 30 percent to 116,263
GMC , down 35.7 percent to 20,467
Honda , down 24.5 percent to 92,216
Hummer, down 61.6 percent to 913
Hyundai, down 14 percent to 33,952
Infiniti , down 48.3 percent to 4,932
Jeep, down 42 percent to 19,670
Lexus , down 39.2 percent to 14,195
Lincoln, down 42.2 percent to 5,973
Maserati , down 59.9 percent to 108
Mercedes-Benz , down 28.1 percent to 14,565
Mercury, down 40.7 percent to 7,662
Mini, down 22.4 percent to 3,657
Mitsubishi , down 55.9 percent to 3,919
Nissan , down 36.3 percent to 42,258
Pontiac, down 54.9 percent to 10,838
Porsche , down 35.3 percent to 1,853
Saab , down 43.5 percent to 892
Saturn, down 56.4 percent to 7,367
Smart, down 49.9 percent to 1,345
Subaru, down 6.7 percent to 15,649
Suzuki, down 73.7 percent to 2,543
Toyota, down 42.2 percent to 112,345
Volkswagen, down 16.1 percent to 16,289
Volvo , down 36.9 percent to 4,503
