Major automakers today reported U.S. sales figures for the month of February, with American automakers reporting declines of nearly 50 percent on average. Japanese companies fared somewhat better, posting declines in the 35 percent range. GM was worst hit, falling 53 percent, while Kia reported the best results — up 0.4 percent. Another interesting highlight is the Smart brand, which saw an increase of 28.5 percent, despite an overall decline of 20.6 percent at parent Daimler. If any good news can be gleaned from today’s reports, it’s that the month’s declines are similar to January’s, suggesting some stabilization.
Ford , widely viewed as America’s healthiest automaker, reported sales of 84,422 units for the month of February, down 48 percent from the 164,915 units sold in February 2008. The decline is pretty much in line with Ford’s year-to-date sales decline of 44.7 percent, indicating the U.S. auto sales slump is neither worsening nor improving. Ford brand sales fell 48.8 percent, while Mercury declined 44.6 percent, and Lincoln fell 41.2 percent. The Volvo brand, which Ford is expected to sell or spin-off this year, saw its sales fall a whopping 55.3 percent. (Full Data Sheet).
Chrysler LLC reported an overall decline of 44 percent for the month of February, dropping from 150,093 units in February 2008 to just 84,050 units in February 2009. The Chrysler brand was one of the worst hit of any major auto brand in America, declining 63 percent — from 41,709 sales to a mere 15,519. Jeep and Dodge brand sales helped offset this somewhat, declining 32 percent and 39 percent, respectively. (Full Data Sheet).
General Motors said its sales dropped 52.9 percent to 127,296 units. Hardest hit was the Hummer brand, which declined 68.7 percent. GM has been trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to sell the Hummer brand for nearly a year. Saturn, which GM has said it will shut down or spin off, sold only 6,338 units, down 57.2 percent. GM’s troubled Saab unit, which filed for bankruptcy in Sweden last week, reported a sale drop of 58.9 percent. Chevrolet sales fell 54.5 percent, while Buick and Cadillac sales slumped 51 percent. (Data Sheet Not Available).
Mazda — which is controlled by Ford but treated as a standalone company — reported February 2009 sales of 16,401, down 30.4 percent versus the same month last year. Leading the way for the month, Mazda5 sales were up 11.7 percent over last year, selling 2,257 vehicles during the month of February (Full Data Sheet).
Nissan ’s sales were a modest 54,249 units, compared with last February’s sales of 86,219 units. This amounts to a decrease of 37.1 percent when compared with February 2008. Nissan brand vehicles saw sales of 47,890 units in February compared with 76,151 units sold in February 2008, a 37.1 percent decrease. Infiniti sales for February were 6,359 units, down from 10,068 a year ago, a decline of 36.8 percent (Full Data Sheet).
Toyota reported month-end sales of 109,583 vehicles, a decrease of 37.3 percent from last February. Toyota Division passenger cars recorded February sales of 58,863 units, down 31.7 percent from the same period last year. Toyota Division light trucks posted February sales of 37,612 units, down 44.9 percent. Lexus passenger cars reported February sales of 6,093 units, a decrease of 48.0 percent from the year-ago month. Lexus Division light trucks recorded February sales of 7,015 units, down 19.5 percent (Full Data Sheet).
Honda posted total February vehicle sales of 71,575, a decline of 35.4 percent compared to February 2008. Honda Division posted February sales of 63,916, a decline of 34.9 percent. Of that total, Honda light-truck sales decreased 37.2 percent, to 27,925. The Acura Division posted sales of 7,659, a decline of 39.0 percent compared to February 2008. (Full Data Sheet).
Volkswagen was relatively unscathed, reporting sales of 13,660 units, a 17.5 percent decrease over February 2008 sales of 16,556 units. Volkswagen’s new CC contributed greatly to VW’s good results, posting its best sales month ever with more than 1,800 units sold (Full Data Sheet).
VW’s Audi division announced sales for the month of February totaling 4,653 units sold, a drop of 24.4 percent. The Audi A5 continued to post increases over last year. The A5 recorded 494 units sold in February 2009, an increase of 28.6% over the previous February. Coupled with January sales, the Audi A5 is outselling its 2008 pace by 51.1% with 1,097 units sold this year to date (Full Data Sheet).
BMW reported a sales decline of 34.7 percent for the month of February — from 24,190 vehicles to 15,805. Sales of BMW brand vehicles decreased 37.5 percent in February for a total of 12,979 units. MINI USA reported sales of 2,826 automobiles, down 17.2 percent from the 3,415 cars sold in February 2008 (Full Data Sheet).
Daimler announced a 20.6 percent decrease in sales, to 15,614 vehicles. The Mercedes brand dropped 23.5 percent to 14,199 units sold, while the Smart division recorded 1,415 sales — a 28.5 percent increase over February 2008. Moreover, Daimler said Smart sales are up 83.2 percent year to date. (Full Data Sheet).
Hyundai said its sales totalled 30,621 for the month of February, down 1.5 percent from the same period last year. Sales were up 25 percent over January 2009. The new Genesis sedan contributed 1,263 units to the sum, helping to offset some of the company’s weaker models. Sonata declined the most, from 8,538 units to only 4,743 (Full Data Sheet).
Hyundai’s sister company Kia Motors announced February sales of 22,073 units — an increase of 0.4 percent over February of 2008. The Sedona sold an impressive 6,211 units, up from 2,454. This helped to offset declines in other model ranges (Full Data Sheet).
Mitsubishi Motors slumped to just 4,484 units sold in February — a decrease of 50.8 percent compared to February 2008 sales of 9,105. A specific breakdown (Full Release).
Subaru announced a 1-percent sales increase for February 2009. Year-to-date sales were up 4-percent with 25,283 units sold in 2009 versus 24,195 units sold during the same time period in 2008. (Full Data Sheet). The 2009 Subaru Forester was the company’s strongest model, recording a 101-percent increase over the previous year’s sales: a total of 5,978 units versus 2,971 (Full Data Sheet).
