It’s that time of the month again. U.S. sales figures are in for November 2009, and the numbers seem to suggest some degree of stabilization. We’ve got all the details.
The Americans
General Motors announced it delivered 151,427 vehicles — a sales decline of 2 percent compared to November 2008. GM blames the slight drop in overall sales on the discontinuation of several brands and models. Sales at the company’s new “core” brands — Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac– rose 10 percent.
Ford’s sales numbers also reflected increasing market stability, with approximately 123,167 deliveries — a virtually identical figure to the 123,222 units sold in November of last year. Overall, the Ford brand was up 2 percent, while Lincoln was down 20.1 percent and Mercury fell 9.7 percent. Ford’s Volvo subsidiary reported sales of 4,631 units — an increase of 5.2 percent.
Chrysler’s sales figures were by far the worst of any U.S. automaker. Overall sales declined 25 percent to 63,560 units. Sales of Chrysler brand vehicles fell 37 percent, while Dodge declined 8 percent, Jeep slipped 24 percent, and Ram fell 38 percent.
The Asians
Toyota’s November sales rose 11.5 percent over the same month in ’08, for a grand total of 133,700 vehicles. The Toyota division saw an increase of 9.8 percent to 115,200 units, while Lexus rose 24 percent to 18,500 units.
Honda’s sales were up 5.5 percent, totaling 74,003 vehicles. The Honda division posted a 3.7 percent increase to 68,345 cars, while Acura saw a 20.8 percent jump in sales, resulting in a total of 8,769 deliveries.
Nissan saw the largest increase of Japan’s big three, with sales of 56,288 units versus 46,605 units last year, an increase of 20.8 percent. The Nissan brand posted sales of 50,644 units in November compared with 38,974 units sold in November 2008, a 29.9 percent increase. Infiniti sales for November 2009 were 5,644 units, down 26 percent from the 7,631 units sold in the same month last year.
Mazda, which is partially owned by Ford, reported November 2009 sales of 14,255 units, an increase of 9.6 percent versus November of 2008.
As for Japan’s smaller automakers, November was a mixed bag. There was good news for Subaru, which achieved a 24 percent increase in sales, totaling 16,988 cars. Mitsubishi wasn’t so fortunate, recording a 43 percent decline to 2,925 sales. Suzuki’s numbers were even worse — a 52 percent decline to just 1,540 units.
Hyundai reported the biggest sales increase of any automaker. Sales totaled 28,045 units, a 46 percent increase compared with November 2008. Hyundai’s sister company, Kia, also enjoyed a strong month. Overall sales were 17,955 units, an 18.3 percent increase over the same month last year.
The Europeans
The BMW Group reported November U.S. vehicle sales of 18,272 vehicles, a decrease of 7.5 percent. Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 3.2 percent in November for a total of 15,708 vehicles, while MINI reported sales of 2,564 automobiles, a decrease of 44 percent.
Mercedes-Benz reported 17,446 deliveries, an increase of 9.1 percent compared to November 2008. The Mercedes brand reported a 19.1 percent increase in overall sales, for a total of 16,797 units. Meanwhile, Smart posted a decline of 65.6 percent, totaling just 649 sales.
Volkswagen says it sold 16,250 vehicles, representing a 13.7 percent increase over November 2008. Luxury brand Audi logged 6,810 transactions, an increase of 0.3 percent over the 6,788 sold a year ago.
Jaguar- Land Rover sales increased 20 percent, for a total of 3,319 vehicles.
