The decline in the US car market resumed in October, and even though the 1.1% decline in sales was the mildest since May it was still an unwelcome return to trend after the surprising 6.3% growth in sales in September. The SAAR (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate) once again was over 18 million, suggesting a healthy market, but it remains to be seen whether the coming months will be more like September, or whether we will continue to see a steady slide in sales numbers.
October’17 Highlights:
- Six of the carmakers in the Top 10 registered positive growth in October, one fewer than in September, with Chevrolet being unable to replicate its stellar performance from Oct’16, when it outsold Ford and overtook Toyota to claim second spot in the YTD standings (a feat it is unlikely to repeat in 2017)
- October was once again a good month for Nissan, with it being the only brand with growth in the double digits, although that still put it behind Honda in the monthly standings and meant the latter continued to consolidate fourth place in the YTD standings
- Sixth-placed Jeep and ninth-placed Ram continued to slowly lose sales, although that was still a much better performance than Hyundai (sales down 16.4%), which was once again outsold by Subaru
- GMC also continued its good performance, with sales up 4.6%, allowing it to push Kia out of the Top 10, with the Korean brand unable to build on the growth it recorded in September
- October was not at all kind to smaller mainstream brands, with only Volkswagen registering positive growth (up 9.4%) on the back rising Tiguan L and Atlas sales, with sales falling even at the other mainstream “grower” in 2017, Mitsubishi
- Still, there are falling sales and then there are crashing sales: while all other mainstream brands failed to grow, it was Dodge that once again performed particularly badly with sales down 41.0%, contributing to FCA’s woes as it also saw sales fall at Fiat (down 32.5%) and Chrysler (down 22.3%), with only Smart (sales down by two-thirds) performing worse
- The situation was a little better among luxury brands, with Tesla (up 28.2%), Volvo (up 10.5%) and Audi (up 9.6%) gaining significant volume, while Mercedes-Benz managed to eek out a small growth of 0.5%
- Most other luxury brands lost volume, with the fall being particularly painful for Infiniti (down 8.1%), which has enjoyed double-digit YTD growth so far, and Jaguar, whose sales were once again lower than in 2016, a huge reversal from the triple-digit growth rates earlier in the year when customers flocked to the new F-pace
- From among the new brands, sales of Genesis were up almost by half, though one should remember that the brand was still in start-up mode in Oct’16, while Alfa Romeo once again recorded sales above the 1,000 mark (that’s five months in a row)
- Interestingly, October was a good month for exclusive brands, with McLaren and Lamborghini almost doulbing sales compared to Oct’16, Rolls-Royce seing its sales rise by almost half, and Ferrari by almost a quarter; by comparison (and possibly related to the good performance amongst its competitors), Bentley once again saw its sales fall by almost a half, suggesting customers are holding off their purchases until the new Continental GT arrives
Brand ranking
| Monthly | YTD |
| # | Model | Oct’17 | Oct’16 | Δ | # | 2017 | 2016 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
a1 ( 1) |
Ford | 190,789 | 178,623 | 6.8% |
a1 | 2,032,454 | 2,147,481 |  -5.4% |
| a2 (1) |
Chevrolet | 175,110 | 181,964 | -3.8% |
a3 (1) |
1,691,298 | 1,713,876 | -1.3% |
| a3 | Toyota | 165,538 | 161,116 | 2.7% |
a2 (1) |
1,777,160 | 1,696,831 | 4.7% |
| a4 | Honda | 114,655 | 113,292 | 1.2% |
a4 | 1,232,132 | 1,221,946 | 0.8% |
| a5 | Nissan | 112,716 | 102,312 | 10.2% |
a5 | 1,195,243 | 1,188,561 | 0.6% |
| a6 | Jeep | 67,074 | 68,826 | -2.5% |
a6 | 689,316 | 779,002 | -11.5% |
| a7 (1) |
Subaru | 54,045 | 53,760 | 0.5% |
a8 (1) |
532,893 | 500,647 | 6.4% |
| a8 (1) |
Hyundai | 51,224 | 61,304 | -16.4% |
a7 | 547,774 | 646,284 | -15.2% |
| a9 | Ram | 47,831 | 49,443 | -3.3% |
b10 | 466,524 | 446,776 | 4.4% |
| b10 (1) |
GMC | 44,630 | 42,668 | 4.6% |
b11 (1) |
450,264 | 434,100 | 3.7% |
| b11 (1) |
Kia | 44,397 | 48,977 | -9.4% |
a9 (1) |
502,327 | 540,741 | -7.1% |
| b12 (1) |
Mercedes-Benz | 31,401 | 31,383 | 0.1% |
b13 | 298,878 | 305,743 | -2.2% |
| b13 (1) |
Volkswagen | 27,732 | 25,358 | 9.4% |
b14 (1) |
287,769 | 256,757 | 12.1% |
| b14 (2) |
Dodge | 24,476 | 41,514 | -41.0% |
b12 (1) |
390,266 | 436,059 | -10.5% |
| b15 (1) |
BMW | 23,208 | 24,017 | -3.4% |
b15 (1) |
243,383 | 254,150 | -4.2% |
| b16 (1) |
Lexus | 22,894 | 24,803 | -7.7% |
b16 (2) |
242,650 | 260,996 | -7.0% |
| b17 | Mazda | 20,811 | 22,711 | -8.4% |
b17 | 241,108 | 246,978 | -2.4% |
| b18 (1) |
Audi | 19,425 | 17,721 | 9.6% |
b18 (2) |
180,339 | 169,900 | 6.1% |
| b19 (1) |
Buick | 19,142 | 20,046 | -4.5% |
b19 | 178,972 | 189,813 | -5.7% |
| b20 (1) |
Cadillac | 13,931 | 13,948 | -0.1% |
b21 | 127,777 | 133,234 | -4.1% |
| b21 (1) |
Acura | 12,698 | 12,869 | -1.3% |
b22 | 126,824 | 132,596 | -4.4% |
| b22 (2) |
Chrysler | 11,018 | 14,181 | -22.3% |
b20 (2) |
154,827 | 208,198 | -25.6% |
| b23 | Infiniti | 10,296 | 11,208 | -8.1% |
b23 | 124,010 | 107,983 | 14.8% |
| b24 | Lincoln | 8,909 | 9,069 | -1.8% |
b24 | 91,631 | 89,495 | 2.4% |
| b25 | Mitsubishi | 7,381 | 7,637 | -3.4% |
b25 | 86,576 | 81,988 | 5.6% |
| b26 | Volvo | 7,008 | 6,340 | 10.5% |
b26 | 63,974 | 64,741 | -1.2% |
| b27 | Land Rover | 5,477 | 5,532 | -1.0% |
b27 | 59,958 | 59,923 | 0.1% |
| b28 | Porsche | 4,715 | 4,506 | 4.6% |
b28 (1) |
45,952 | 44,752 | 2.7% |
| b29 | Mini | 3,669 | 3,954 | -7.2% |
b29 (1) |
38,453 | 42,865 | -10.3% |
| b30 | Jaguar | 2,891 | 3,219 | -10.2% |
b31 (2) |
33,119 | 23,568 | 40.5% |
| b31 (1) |
Tesla | 2,115 | 1,650 | 28.2% |
b30 (1) |
37,255 | 35,619 | 4.6% |
| b32 (2) |
Genesis | 1,786 | 1,201 | 48.7% |
b33 (3) |
16,726 | 3,908 | 328.0% |
| b33 (2) |
Fiat | 1,769 | 2,622 | -32.5% |
b32 | 23,021 | 28,162 | -18.3% |
| b34 (8) |
Alfa Romeo | 1,205 | 23 | 5139.1% |
b35 (7) |
8,557 | 453 | 1789.0% |
| b35 (2) |
Maserati | 1,140 | 1,304 | -12.6% |
b34 | 11,143 | 9,460 | 17.8% |
| b36 (1) |
Bentley | 188 | 312 | -39.7% |
b38 | 1,860 | 1,787 | 4.1% |
| b37 (1) |
Ferrari | 187 | 150 | 24.7% |
b37 | 2,010 | 1,890 | 6.3% |
| b38 (3) |
Smart | 140 | 418 | -66.5% |
b36 (1) |
2,775 | 4,462 | -37.8% |
| b39 (2) |
McLaren | 115 | 58 | 98.3% |
b41 | 758 | 671 | 13.0% |
| b40 | Lamborghini | 112 | 63 | 77.8% |
b40 (1) |
860 | 858 | 0.2% |
| b41 (2) |
Rolls-Royce | 104 | 71 | 46.5% |
b39 (1) |
1,139 | 837 | 36.1% |
| b42 (6) |
Scion | 2 | 376 | -99.5% |
b42 (14) |
199 | 50,886 | -99.6% |
* estimates