Despite being the weakest March for auto sales in 34 years, some dealers are displaying cautious optimism. Carmakers saw their U.S. sales drop by an average of 37 percent, but sales exceeded analysts’ predictions, and displayed a larger bump over February (24.5 percent) then traditionally seen at the end of winter. Credit for this good news could be attributed to generous manufacturer incentives, averaging $3,169 per vehicle. International manufacturers were, on average, down 30.6 percent from 2008.
International Brands Grow Market Share
According to numbers from Autodata Corp., international makes made up 55.7 percent of March’s market share with 477,921 sales, up dramatically from 383,707 in February, which is historically a weak month. Asian brands claimed 47.1 percent and Europeans have 8.6 percent of the market. These numbers are a significant increase from a year ago when Asian brands held only 44.4 percent and Europeans held 7.2 percent.
Of the international makes, Toyota held the greatest share percentage with 15.5, up from 14 percent in February.
Top Selling Vehicles Hold Steady
As in February, six of the top 10 selling vehicles in March were international makes. The Hyundai Sonata was the only international vehicle with increased sales over this time last year. The Sonata saw an increase of 9.7 percent, selling 1,100 more vehicles.
Trucks vs. Cars
In March, car sales continued to grow against trucks. Significantly, Asian car sales overtook the number of trucks sold by the Detroit Three. Asian cars now hold 29.3 percent (47.1 percent combined car and truck) of the market and the domestic brands hanging on to 16.1 percent (44.3 percent combined car and truck). From a year earlier international brands have increased their share of the market by 4.1 percent even through sales have decreased.
Outlook
March’s industry sales were 20 percent higher than in February, prompting some to hope sales have hit bottom and are on the upswing. Realistically, it is too soon to say if the situation is in fact improving, or if unsustainable incentives are causing the rise, but dealers continue to hope for the best, while asking to Congress for assistance on a number of issues. Click here to learn more about these.
See below for a complete breakdown of March 2009 monthly and year-to-date sales by international nameplate.
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