Cadillac_CT6-US-car-sales-statistics

US sales: March 2016, brands

Bart Demandt
Car Sales US
2

US-car-sales-March-2016-JeepCar sales in the US advanced another 3.1% to 1,595,065 units in March, but signs that the market is nearing its peak are becoming stronger. For starters, retail growth slowed down while incentives rose. The Seasonally Adjusted Annualized selling Rate actually dropped to 16.56 million units, the first time since May last year that the figure was below 17 million. The market continued its shift from cars to SUVs, especially in the luxury segment. Still, both Nissan and Hyundai managed to rack up sales records this month. Nissan North America sold 163,559 cars and SUVs last month, as Nissan sales were up 13% to 149,784 and Infiniti sales rose 10% to 13,775. Although Hyundai sales were up just 0.4% on last March to 75,310, the South-Korean brand sold more cars than any month since its arrival in the US in 1986.

RAM_1500-Pickup-US-car-sales-statisticsMeanwhile, Toyota suffered a sales slowdown, as it was the biggest loser in the top-10, with Kia the only other top-10 brand to lose volume in March. Jeep surpassed Hyundai, while Dodge and RAM pushed Subaru out of the top-10. Volkswagen lost 10.4% in its fifth consecutive month of falling sales, in a sharp contrast with Audi, which enjoyed its 63rd straight month of sales increases. Chrysler dropped harshly as the 200 midsized sedan lost a huge chunk of volume after the brand announced it would not develop a successor to the model in-house. Mazda was the biggest loser of the volume brands, with sales down more than a quarter as sales of all of its models fell, except for the all-new CX-3 small crossover and the new generation MX-5 Miata. Fiat and Mini continued to be hurt by cheap gasoline and a shift towards large trucks and crossovers.

Cadillac_CT6-US-car-sales-statisticsIn the luxury race, Mercedes-Benz narrowly beat Lexus and BMW, although their sales include the Metris and Sprinter commercial vans, which aren’t actual luxury vehicles. All three lost volume on last year, indicating their hot streak may end this year. Infiniti outsells Cadillac for the first time since May 2012 and closes in on Acura, and Audi outsells Buick. The biggest gains come from Jaguar and Land Rover at +28.5% and +28.8% respectively. And this is before Jaguar has launched its XE midsized sedan and F-Pace crossover in the US. Volvo reported its 9th straight month of double digit growth.

Brand ranking March 2016

Brand March 2016 March 2015 change Q1 rank 2016 Q1 2015 Q1 change
1 Ford 243.375 226.091 7,6% 1 616.682 570.422 8,1%
2 Toyota 182.383 190.481 -4,3% 2 476.616 486.462 -2,0%
3 Chevrolet 176.283 173.886 1,4% 3 472.730 476.556 -0,8%
4 Nissan 149.784 132.560 13,0% 4 367.544 333.786 10,1%
5 Honda 123.369 111.623 10,5% 5 319.828 294.299 8,7%
6 Jeep 82.337 71.584 15,0% 6 209.597 178.749 17,3%
7 Hyundai 75.310 75.019 0,4% 7 173.330 172.029 0,8%
8 Kia 58.279 58.771 -0,8% 8 146.321 141.100 3,7%
9 Dodge 51.159 46.049 11,1% 9 140.509 123.511 13,8%
10 RAM 49.990 45.023 11,0% 11 126.312 110.406 14,4%
11 Subaru 49.285 49.111 0,4% 10 132.397 131.281 0,9%
12 GMC 44.585 41.707 6,9% 12 121.048 119.811 1,0%
13 Mercedes-Benz 31.236 32.300 -3,3% 13 105.949 83.715 26,6%
14 Lexus 30.198 31.054 -2,8% 14 74.221 77.180 -3,8%
15 BMW 30.033 34.310 -12,5% 15 70.613 78.492 -10,0%
16 Volkswagen 26.914 30.025 -10,4% 16 69.314 79.239 -12,5%
17 Chrysler 26.236 30.038 -12,7% 17 65.506 81.933 -20,0%
18 Mazda 23.396 32.121 -27,2% 18 64.643 78.042 -17,2%
19 Audi 18.392 17.102 7,5% 20 41.960 40.098 4,6%
20 Buick 18.207 20.526 -11,3% 19 54.287 50.497 7,5%
21 Acura 14.852 14.670 1,2% 21 37.875 39.644 -4,5%
22 Infiniti 13.775 12.525 10,0% 23 32.660 33.842 -3,5%
23 Cadillac 13.053 13.756 -5,1% 22 35.598 37.175 -4,2%
24 Mitsubishi 11.078 9.764 13,5% 24 25.212 23.790 6,0%
25 Lincoln 9.689 8.695 11,4% 25 24.905 21.478 16,0%
26 Land Rover 8.733 6.778 28,8% 26 20.803 16.976 22,5%
27 Scion 7.261 4.424 64,1% 27 18.242 11.978 52,3%
28 Volvo 6.857 5.916 15,9% 28 16.361 13.722 19,2%
29 Tesla (est.) 5.850 2.450 138,8% 31 9.020 4.700 91,9%
30 Mini 4.762 5.829 -18,3% 30 10.839 12.777 -15,2%
31 Porsche 4.323 4.291 0,7% 29 12.238 11.430 7,1%
32 Fiat 3.422 4.494 -23,9% 32 9.009 11.038 -18,4%
33 Jaguar 2.133 1.660 28,5% 33 4.997 4.336 15,2%
34 Maserati 997 996 0,1% 34 2.250 1.929 16,6%
35 Smart 479 583 -17,8% 35 1.300 1.533 -15,2%
36 Bentley 119 248 -52,0% 36 262 540 -51,5%
37 Alfa Romeo 53 73 -27,4% 37 169 217 -22,1%

 

Bart Demandt
Bart is a 36-year old Dutchman who's always had a thing for cars, the automotive industry and statistics. He’s combined these passions by writing about them on CarSalesBase.com. His daily driver is an Alfa Romeo GT 3.2 V6 which he just can't seem to say goodbye to thanks to the mesmerizing exhaust note, despite approaching 300.000km which probably makes this the most experienced GT 3.2 in the world. You can find all his articles Here.

2 Comments

  1. As far as i know, the Chrysler 200 sales are tumbling down because FCA decided to stop the pretty huge incentives they were applying since it debuted, not because customers heard (yet) that the company won’t replace the model. Those incentives were dropped at the end of 2015 when they basically acknowledged that they couldn’t actually earn enough money from this car. And that is why they decided not to replace it in-house. I personally think that this choice could make some sense from the financial point of view but it will be difficult to explain to customers and could be really hurting if the market will reverse its choices back to sedans. In any case, Mr. Marchionne isn’t new to bold and controversial choices. Even more noticeable is his decision not to replace the Punto, basically interrupting what has been the company’s main product line for decades. Also in this case there is some financial evidence that he could be right, but it hugely exposes the company on the market, leaving it with a giant hole in its line-up.

    p.s. thank you very much for your reports, I think that this site is really interesting and it delivers information effectively.

    Reply

    1. Hi JackFb,
      first of all, thanks for your compliments, and also for your insightful addition to the article.
      I guess you’re right about Chrysler cutting down their incentives as a reason for the demise of the 200. The Dart appears to suffer from the same fate.
      Marchionne’s decision makes more sense in this view, although it’s a pity he’s forced to make such a radical decision because the company has failed to produce a competitive compact or midsized sedan for decades.
      And although Fiat has been struggling in Europe for years, his choice not to replace the Punto was necessary as they simply didn’t have the funds at the time and the Italian market was even more depressed than the rest of Europe, so launching a new model wouldn’t give them the volume to justify the investment anyways. That controversial decision is starting to pay off now, as they’re the fastest growing manufacturer in Europe this year.

      Reply

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