Quite an interesting January as the domestics gained while there were mixed results for imports. You might have heard about that Toyota recall thing? Yeah, that news dinged Toyota's sales a good 16%, could be even worse in February if the situation doesn't improve.
On the flip side, both Ford and GM improved their year-over-year sales in January. Credit some of those gains to incentives designed to get the attention of wary Toyota consumers. Nissan and Hyundai also picked up some nice gains in January. For a full run down on all the stats, check out the full report on AutoObserver.
AutoObserver: January Whacks Toyota, But Sales Firm for Other Makers
brn says:
02:36 PM, 02/ 3/10
Honda went down? How'd that happen?
chrome58 says:
03:19 PM, 02/ 3/10
You're wondering why Honda went down? I'm assuming you have eyes since you're using the internet...
...their cars and trucks are uggz.
brn says:
05:56 PM, 02/ 3/10
Yea, they're ugly to us, but are turning off that many "normal" people?
financeman2 says:
06:33 PM, 02/ 3/10
Honda better start getting their act together. I agree that recent designs have been ugggly (think of Pilot and Accord) and a few quality concerns have also started to pop up. For instance, look the well documented brake wear issues in recent model Accords. Of course some credit should also be given to GM and Ford, both of which are producing higher quality products with fairly nice styling. I just looked at the Buick Lacrosse.....I was actually impressed, though concerns about resale continue.
notabigdeal says:
08:12 PM, 02/ 3/10
I think perhaps Honda just checked out of the Petrol Car making business or they are just too interested in robots and EV's.
I never thought that Hyundai would be 5000 cars off of Chrysler and looking at Hyundai's performance they will close that gap really really fast. I also never thought that anyone would spend more then Hyundai on incentives. I also realize that unlike domestic automakers Hyundai's growth doesn't have any fleet sales. The world does change fast... dam.
hondacura4 says:
08:29 AM, 02/ 4/10
Honda isn't down. Honda is up 2.9% compared to January of 2009.
"02/02/2010 - TORRANCE, Calif. -
American Honda Motor Co., Inc., posted total January vehicle sales of 67,479, an increase of 2.9 percent compared to January 2009, based on the daily selling rate,* which involved two fewer selling days. Honda Division posted January sales of 60,347, an increase of 3.5 percent versus January 2009.
Leading Honda January total car sales of 37,736 were Accord, up 35.6 percent to 20,759, and Civic, up 12.1 percent to 14,693. Honda light-truck sales decreased 11.2 percent to 22,611.
"We're off to a steady start for 2010 and we're optimistic that we can build momentum," said John Mendel, executive vice president of sales for American Honda. "We look forward to launching the all-new CR-Z sport hybrid coupe later this year, and next week, we'll give everyone their first look at the exciting new Odyssey Concept at the Chicago Auto Show.
The Acura Division posted sales of 7,132, a decline of 1.7 percent compared to January 2009. The MDX was the brand's best-selling vehicle with 2,358 units sold, up 20.3 percent. "
bodyblue says:
08:49 AM, 02/ 4/10
I think the Fits poor performance lately is a combo of recalls and the upcoming Fiesta.
xprojected says:
09:05 AM, 02/ 4/10
hondacura4: the 2.9% gain is based on daily selling rate (S/R). They counted 24 "selling days" in Jan 2010 compared to 26 in Jan 2009, so for each selling day, yes, they were up a little, but the total for the month was still down. Most other companys' S/R results were better than month total as well.
makakio says:
10:37 AM, 02/ 4/10
Uh - so I guess VW isn't one of the Big 7? Really?
1487 says:
11:12 AM, 02/ 4/10
" I also realize that unlike domestic automakers Hyundai's growth doesn't have any fleet sales. The world does change fast... dam. "
Hyundai is a HUGE fleet seller. Same for Nissan. fleet sales are big part of Hyundais recent growth.
inlinesix says:
12:13 PM, 02/ 4/10
notabigdeal
I was wondering about the fleet sales thing myself. But 1487 is correct, Automotive News reports that in 1Q 2009 33% of Hyundai Group auto sales were due to fleet purchases.
xprojected says:
01:52 PM, 02/ 4/10
And yeah, VW & Audi had a total of around 24,000 US sales, up about 40%.. nothing to sneeze at.
dg0472 says:
04:31 PM, 02/ 4/10
The "Big 7" are the top 7 companies in sales in the U.S. So VW wouldn't qualify, no. VW and Audi combined still only about 2,400 more cars than Kia did alone. They didn't beat Kia for the year in '09 and Subaru beat VW alone for '09.
makakio says:
08:51 AM, 02/ 5/10
Wow - talk about living in a microclimate (here in No California). There's probably 15 VWs sold for every Kia...
zoomzoomn says:
07:50 AM, 02/ 8/10
Honda needs to get its head out of its ass! They are quickly loosing their luster with some of their recent new model launches. Poor Suzuki needs to get a dealer body that can help them establish the Brand. It still amazes me as to how Mitsubishi still survives. And, lastly, Chrysler's charger ad in the Super Bowl was sweet...but a $40000 Charger is simply not in my future.