Most major automakers reported modest to solid sales figures that outpaced analyst estimates last month and for 2011 in its entirety, but the best news came from Chrysler and Volkswagen.
Both brands finished the year on a high note, with sales way up – but for different reasons. Keep reading to find out why.
December’s Numbers
Acura – Down 15 percent to 13,129
Audi – Up 20 percent to 12,655
BMW – Up 15 percent to 26,834
Buick – Down 12 percent to 14,974
Cadillac – Down 3 percent to 16,259
Chevrolet – Up 5 percent to 161,158
Chrysler – Up 83 percent to 23,974
Dodge – Up 28 percent to 41,548
Fiat – 2,325
Ford – Up 16 percent to 201,737
GMC – Down 1 percent to 41,960
Honda – Down 19 percent to 92,101
Hyundai – Up 13 percent to 50,765
Infiniti – Down 12 percent to 10,990
Jaguar – Down 4 percent to 1,137
Jeep – Up 41 percent to 43,577
Kia – Up 43 percent to 43,390
Land Rover – Up 28 percent to 4,743
Lexus – Down 8 percent to 25,355
Lincoln - Up 4 percent to 8,403
Maserati – Up 32 percent to 238
Mazda – Up 4 percent to 22,353
Mercedes-Benz – Up 28 percent to 25,701
Mitsubishi – Up 3 percent to 5,032
MINI – Up 32 percent to 5,711
Nissan – Up 11 percent to 89,937
Porsche – Down 29 percent to 1,834
Ram – Up 10 percent to 26,595
Saab – Down 75 percent to 270
Smart – Up 25 percent to 710
Subaru – Up 26 percent to 33,701
Suzuki – Down 3 percent to 2,565
Toyota (Includes Scion) – Up 2 percent to 152,776
Volkswagen – Up 36 percent to 32,502
Volvo – Up 12 percent to 5,342
BMW Group – Up 18 percent to 32,545
Chrysler – Up 37 percent to 138,019
Daimler – Up 30 percent to 28,716
Ford Motor Company – Up 10 percent to 210,140
General Motors – Up 5 percent to 234,351
American Honda – Down 19 percent to 105,230
Hyundai Group – Up 25 percent to 94,155
Jaguar Land Rover – Up 21 percent to 5,880
Nissan North America – Up 8 percent to 100,927
Toyota USA – Up 0.4 percent to 178,131
2011 Overall Numbers
Acura – Down 8 percent to 123,299
Audi – Up 16 percent to 117,561
BMW – Up 13 percent to 247,907
Buick – Up 14 percent to 177,633
Cadillac – Up 4 percent to 152,389
Chevrolet – Up 13 percent to 1,775,812
Chrysler – Up 12 percent to 221,346
Dodge – Up 18 percent to 451,040
Fiat – 19,769
Ford – Up 17 percent to 2,062,915
GMC – Up 19 percent to 397,986
Honda – Down 7 percent to 1,023,986
Hyundai – Up 20 percent to 645,691
Infiniti – Down 5 percent to 98,461
Jaguar – Down 8 percent to 12,276
Jeep – Up 44 percent to 419,349
Kia – Up 36 percent to 485,492
Land Rover – Up 20 percent to 38,099
Lexus – Down 13 percent to 198,552
Lincoln - Down 0.2 percent to 85,643
Maserati – Up 22 percent to 2,321
Mazda – Up 9 percent to 250,426
Mercedes-Benz – Up 18 percent to 245,192
Mitsubishi – Up 42 percent to 79,020
MINI – Up 26 percent to 57,511
Nissan – Up 17 percent to 944,073
Porsche – Up 15 percent to 29,023
Ram – Up 21 percent to 257,610
Saab – Up 15 percent to 5,610
Smart – Down 0.1 percent to 5,208
Subaru – Up 1 percent to 266,989
Suzuki – Up 11 percent to 26,618
Toyota (Includes Scion) – Down 6 percent to 1,446,109
Volkswagen – Up 26 percent to 324,402
Volvo – Up 25 percent to 67,240
BMW Group – Up 15 percent to 305,418
Chrysler – Up 26 percent to 1,369,114
Daimler – Up 1 percent to 269,709
Ford Motor Company – Up 11 percent to 2,148,806
General Motors – Up 14 percent to 2,503,820
American Honda – Down 7 percent to 1,147,285
Hyundai Group – Up 27 percent to 1,131,183
Jaguar Land Rover – Up 11 percent to 50,375
Nissan North America – Up 15 percent to 1,042,534
Toyota USA – Down 7 percent to 1,644,661
The Domestics
Chrysler posted its best month since May of 2008 and it says that all-important retail sales were up 45 percent. Highlights included the Jeep Grand Cherokee, which saw sales exceed 17,000 units (that’s more along the lines of what we saw during the SUV boom of the 1990s) and a solid 39 percent gain for the Jeep Wrangler.
Big gains for many of Chrysler’s other models need to be taken with a grain of salt, however, since much of its overhauled-for-2011 lineup didn’t debut until January. Thus, it’s not surprising that vehicles like the Jeep Compass were up 1,035 percent or that the Dodge Durango skyrocketed 1,231 percent. Still, the figures overall are stronger than Chrysler has seen in decades compared to market rivals.
Ford also had reason to celebrate: Its namesake division’s annual sales topped 2 million for the first time since 2007. That represents a three point market share gain, the Blue Oval says. Most of its growth last month came from trucks and SUVs, where all of its consumer-oriented models saw gains. Interestingly, its biggest individual gainer was its now-discontinued Ranger (up 57 percent), but F-Series came in with a positively solid 68,278 units sold.
The company’s Lincoln division also posted a modest gain in December, buoyed by fairly robust MKS, MKX and Navigator numbers.
Trucks and SUVs were also en vogue at General Motors, but good numbers for its body-on-frame vehicles like the Chevrolet Suburban (up 39 percent to 5,930) and GMC Yukon XL (up 24 percent to 3,172) couldn’t offset declines for many other models. Chevy’s Volt ended the year on a strong note, with 1,529 delivered.
The situation appears on paper to be particularly dire at Buick, but a closer inspection of the numbers reveals that the big slide came from its discontinued Lucerne (down 69 percent). The division delivered 261 examples of its Verano, which went on sale in late December, and its Regal (up 1 percent) and LaCrosse (up 4 percent) had reasonable months.
The Asians
To say that 2011 was a tough year for Toyota is an understatement, but the Japanese giant moved slightly in the right direction in December. With 33,506 units sold, the Camry was by far the best-selling passenger car in the United States last month. Lexus suffered with sales down across the board except for its CT, which delivered 2,259 units, eclipsing the similar (in concept) HS’ 274 sales.
Honda, faced with similar woes, seems to be having a much harder time clawing back. Few models saw sales increase, and its bread-and-butter Civic and Accord were down 27 and 40 percent, respectively. The firm’s Acura brand didn’t fare much better, although its TSX Wagon accounted for more than 10 percent of overall TSX sales in 2011 – a modest success.
Nissan sold 954 Leaf Evs (more than twice the number of Cubes it delivered), but its Altima was its big seller (25,976 units).
Mazda saw mixed results; two of its volume models tumbled more than 10 percent (Mazda6, CX-7), but its Mazda2 and Mazda5 had great months (up 61 and 53 percent, respectively) and its CX-9 three-row crossover had its best-ever December.
From Korea, Hyundai posted its best-ever December (and its best year ever, to boot). The automaker says that fleet sales were just 3 percent of its December numbers (10 percent for the year), and nearly all of its cars outperformed their figures last year.
Cross-hall rival Kia nearly matched Hyundai for a similarly record-breaking month and year. Its Soul compact had its first year over 100,000 units, but the biggest notable in 2011 was its Optima – sales were up 309 percent.
The Europeans
BMW had its second best year ever in the U.S. between its two brands, BMW and MINI. Its 5-Series was its most-improved at 51,491 cars (up 30 percent), but the 3-Series was at the top overall with 94,371 deliveries. MINI’s new Countryman found 16,683 buyers to become its second-best seller behind the 28,067 unit Cooper hardtop.
Arch rival Mercedes-Benz posted its best-ever year, but it couldn’t quite topple BMW, which grabbed the crown for the first time ever.
Volkswagen posted its best December in nearly 40 years thanks to continued strong demand for its Jetta (up 11 percent to 14,422) and its Passat (6,884 units compared to just a handful sold last year). The automaker’s Audi division broke a U.S. sales record, and it combined with VW for more than 430,000 deliveries. That’s still a far cry from the 800,000 VW anticipates selling here by 2018, but at least the company is over the halfway hump.
Volvo’s growth came primarily from its S60, which was by far its best-selling new car last year (21,282 units). Jaguar’s sales continue to slide, although its range-topping XJ sedan’s 5,235 sales for the year nearly toppled the XF’s 5,303. Land Rover continues to perform strongly, with 2,244 Evoque deliveries for the year.
Leftlane’s bottom line
The numbers themselves are a bit misleading, but there’s no question that Chrysler was off to a strong renewal last year. So to General Motors, Ford, Nissan and, of course, the Korean duo of Hyundai and Kia. All of those mainstream brands benefitted in part from strong products and in part from limited Honda and Toyota supply last summer.
But while Toyota seems to be getting back up on its feet – and its Lexus brand will likely have a resurgence as new products beginning with the GS sedan start hitting dealers – Honda seems to be stuck in a quagmire. Its redesigned CR-V should help it grow where its Civic seems to be stumbling.
In the luxury field, BMW came out on top for the first time ever, unseating Lexus’ 11-year dominance on the market. What will happen next year? Lexus promises a major product surge beginning with its GS sedan, but it’s hard to say whether it will have what it takes to quickly win back the crown.
