Boosted by demand for the Ford Fusion and Flex, Ford Motor Company says its June 2009 line-wide sales figures in the United States were off just 10.7 percent compared to the year before. At the other end of the spectrum, Toyota , Honda , Chrysler and General Motors all saw more of the same: Drop-offs exceeding 30 percent.
Last month, Ford and GM continued a trend of surprisingly decent sales when compared to the market as a whole. Though most analysts predicted June would see an upswing in sales compared to any previous month this year, apparently Ford’s extensive marketing and its product renaissance paid off.
Remember that the sales figures are to be compared to June 2008.
The good
Kia ’s sales were down just 1.4 percent over last year thanks to an impressive increase in Sportage sales.
Chevrolet sold 9,320 Camaros – almost 9 percent of the automaker’s volume was made up of the two-door sports coupes.
Pontiac’s sales were the best thus far this year, despite GM’s announcement that it will kill off the brand. G8 sales were up 135.8 percent to 3,622 and Vibe sales – driven by high fleet sales numbers – increased 25.2 percent to 6,116.
Strong sales continue at Subaru ; the automaker’s sales are off less than 1 percent for the year and were up 3.4 percent in June.
Honda ’s Odyssey and Pilot saw 11.8 and 7.7 percent increases in sales, respectively, compared to the year before.
Volkswagen says its diesel TDI vehicles are selling well. An impressive 81 percent of Jetta SportWagens were equipped with the TDI, as were 40 percent of Jetta sedans and 29 percent of Touaregs last month.
Toyota ’s Prius saw a 6.1 percent increase over last year’s figures to 12,998 units sold.
The all-new Lexus RX saw a 21.3 percent increase in sales to 7,355 last month.
The Dodge Challenger saw a 34 percent increase in sales to 1,369 units, though it was the only Chrysler product to show an increase over the prior year.
Ford ’s Fusion hit a June record of 18,561 units, up 26 percent from the year before and the 4,784 Flex units sold marks the highest-ever month for the crossover, which has languished since its launch in June 2008. Most of Ford division’s volume models saw sales near or higher than they were last year and the division sold almost 20,000 more cars than Toyota division did last month.
Volvo saw a 0.6 percent increase in sales compared to June 2008, though the Swedish marque is still off 35.6 percent for the first six months of the year. The automaker’s sales were buoyed by the all-new XC60, which sold 1,032 units.
The bad
It was a tough month for Mazda , despite recent redesigns for its two volume models. Overall sales were down 42.2 percent and its volume models, the Mazda3 and Mazda6, dropped off 46.3 and 50.1 percent, respectively.
GM’s overall sales were down 33.4 percent and its four core brands ( Buick , Cadillac , Chevrolet, GMC ) saw a 33.2 percent drop-off.
Suzuki continues to suffer – sales were down 78 percent in June and are down more than 60 percent this year.
Sports car manufacturer Porsche had a disastrous June; just 902 of the automaker’s sports cars left dealer lots, a 66 percent decrease that brought the automaker’s year-to-date sales down 36 percent for the year.
Lower gas prices hurt demand for Honda’s efficient Fit, Civic and Accord, all of which saw decreases exceeding 40 percent.
Toyota’s woes continue – Toyota division reported sales of 114,780 vehicles, off 36.3 percent from a year ago, though better than the 37.9 percent year-to-date free-fall.
Overall, Chrysler’s sales were better than in previous months, but still down dramatically. All three brands posted sales drops lower than the year-to-date volume changes, but individual vehicle sales were down more than 10 percent across the board, with the exception of the Challenger. Given Chrysler’s reduced model lineup – a number of the models sold last month are remaining units of dwindling stock of discontinued models – the drop off isn’t quite as bad as the raw numbers indicate.
While things were rosy at Ford, Mercury saw a 37 percent drop off from 2008.
The ugly
Acura , down 36.2 percent to 8,280.
BMW , down 20.1 percent to 16,744.
Buick, down 10.7 percent to 8,601.
Cadillac, down 40.9 percent to 8,473.
Chevrolet, down 33.3 percent to 106,712.
Chrysler, down 49 percent to 13,753.
Dodge , down 40 percent to 37,936.
Ford, down 8.3 percent to 133,684.
GMC, down 36 percent to 19,668.
Honda, down 32.4 percent to 100,420.
Hummer, down 48 percent to 1,078.
Hyundai , down 24 percent to 37,943.
Infiniti , down 32.3 percent to 6,304.
Jeep , down 38 percent to 16,608.
Kia, down 1.6 percent to 26,845.
Lexus, down 20 percent to 16,874.
Lincoln , down 26.6 percent to 7,137.
Maserati , down 47.9 percent to 111.
Mazda, down 44.2 percent to 13,729.
Mercedes-Benz , down 22.6 percent to 15,155.
Mercury, down 37.1 percent to 7,332.
Mini, down 21.2 percent to 4,105.
Nissan , down 21.9 percent to 51,994.
Pontiac, down 16.4 percent to 23,740.
Porsche, down 66 percent to 902.
Saab , down 58.4 percent to 779.
Saturn, down 60.2 percent to 7,520.
Subaru, up 3.4 percent to 18,620.
Suzuki, down 78 percent to 2,149.
Toyota, down 36.3 percent to 114,780.
Volkswagen, down 18 percent to 19,027.
Volvo, up 0.6 percent to 7,042.
