If it seems like you’ve heard this before, it’s because you have: Sales for March 2009 in the United States seem to be down across the board compared to the same period last year. GM and Ford lead the sales declines so far with more than 40 percent drops line-wide. Most automakers have reported their sales now, but we’ll keep updating this space until it is complete.
There seem to be few bright points this month, though sales are generally up over February, traditionally a slow month due to sluggish post-holiday sales and fewer selling days. March had 25 selling days in 2009, down a day from the year prior.
Once again, Subaru is holding up strong with sales down just 3 percent thanks to especially strong Forester sales.
Maserati is off the most so far, with sales down 63.2 percent to just 92 cars last month, proving that the recession is far-reaching.
The good
Volkswagen ’s Passat-based CC posted its best-ever month, with 2,351 units sold, accounting for nearly half the CCs sold this year.
Ford gained market share – it is at its highest level since December of 2006 and the automaker says that dealer inventories are down 27 percent compared to a year ago.
Volvo ’s V70 and C70 saw a small uptick in sales – 19 percent and 11.3 percent, respectively, though those figures only indicate that 50 more V70s and 74 more C70s were sold. The automaker did sell 641 XC60s, marking the highest month so far for the brand-new crossover.
Mini USA’s VP had an interesting take on the automaker’s reasonably small 15.9 percent drop-off in sales: “Like the swallows from Capistrano, we’re seeing March bring some life to our segment.”
Mercedes-Benz ’s G-Class seems to be weathering the market as well as its rugged construction would suggest: Sales were down “only” 39.7 percent, compared to 41.4 and 47.5 percent drop-offs for the GL and ML.
Honda ’s Insight, which launched in March, sold 569 units, a reasonable sum considering its limited early availability.
Acura ’s TSX actually saw a 16.6 percent increase to 2,556 units moved in March.
Notably, Chrysler ’s sales surpassed 100,000 units (to 101,001) between its three brands for the first time since September.
Jeep Wrangler sales were up 16 percent to an even 10,000 sold in March. Wrangler sales are up 17 percent overall this year.
Mazda ’s Mazda5 continues to be a strong seller, with sales down “just” 4.2 percent over last year’s numbers. The automaker’s Mexican operations also had its best-ever March, with 1,618 vehicles sold.
Audi ’s A5 and S5 sales were up 41.6 percent to 657, though the automakers other lower volume cars – really everything but its A4 – were down more than 50 percent across the line, aside from the A3, which was down 32.8 percent.
Strong demand persists for Subaru’s Forester, which saw an increase of 47 percent to 6,802. Year-to-date sales are up 2 percent for the Japanese automaker.
GM’s sales are down quite a bit, but there are some bright spots. Sales of the Chevrolet Malibu dropped just 2.1 percent and the Pontiac G8 sold an impressive 2,939 units – a crazy 278.2 percent increase from last March.
The bad
Unfortunately, for Volkswagen, the CC was the only model to post a sales increase; aside from the Jetta sedan (down 27.4 percent) and the all-new Jetta SportWagen, every other vehicle in the German automaker’s lineup posted a decline exceeding 50 percent.
Despite Chrysler’s relatively good overall volumes – compared to last year, the automaker’s three brands all posted hefty declines, especially Chrysler, which moved just 19,502 cars for a 52 percent decrease in sales. The large 300 actually overtook the midsize Sebring in sales.
Infiniti saw the biggest drop so far for a luxury brand – sales were down 47.2 percent. But Lexus isn’t that much better off; sales were down 40.6 percent.
Toyota ’s Prius figures are off a bit due to limited availability as the new model will be reaching dealers shortly, so its 55 percent drop to 8,924 units isn’t a major shock. Still, last March, Toyota sold nearly as many Priuses (20,635) as it did Corollas (25,109). March 2009 Corolla sales dropped just 7.8 percent over last year’s figures to 22,257.
Maserati sold just 92 cars compared to 250 last year in March.
Not surprisingly, Hummer sales were down nearly 76 percent.
The ugly
The following manufacturers have reported March 2009 sales figures:
Acura, down 29.5 percent to 9,005
Audi, down 19.4 percent to 6,433
Buick , down 40.2 percent to 7,369
BMW , down 24.2 percent to 17,520
Cadillac , down 53 percent to 8,209
Chevrolet , down 42.5 percent to 94,704
Chrysler, down 52 percent to 19,502
Dodge , down 33 percent to 57,728
Ford, down 41.7 percent to 109,490
GMC , down 50.3 percent to 19,086
Hummer, down 75.9 percent to 831
Honda, down 34.2 percent to 79,374
Jeep , down 40 percent to 23,771
Infiniti, down 47.6 percent to 7,242
Lexus, down 40.6 percent to 14,239
Lincoln , down 33 percent to 7,310
Maserati, down 63.2 percent to 92
Mazda, down 33.3 percent to 21,974
Mercedes-Benz, down 30.2 percent to 15,602
Mercury, down 42 percent to 8,307
Mini, down 15.9 percent to 3,605
Nissan , down 36.2 percent to 59,392
Pontiac, down 30.8 percent to 17,583
Porsche , down 29.1 percent to 1,749
Saab , down 57.3 percent to 1,265
Saturn, down 59.6 percent to 7,333
Subaru, down 3 percent to 16,249
Suzuki , down 24.1 percent to 7,981
Toyota, down 36 percent to 118,563
Volkswagen, down 19.7 percent to 19,587
Volvo, down 31.4 percent to 6,358
