Geneva Auto Show coverage has delayed our usual monthly sales briefing, but we can't let Ford's 45.6-percent year-over-year sales increase pass without mention. The Ford, Lincoln, Volvo and Mercury brands sold a total of 142,285 vehicles, outpacing 2nd-place General Motors by less than 1,000 units (141,535).
Of course, Ford executives haven't wanted to talk about the impact of fleet sales (40 percent of the total) or Toyota's misfortunes, instead pointing to the Fusion which recorded a 116.5-percent increase in sales landing at 16,459 for February.
Amid all the recall uproar, Toyota saw an expected dip in February but appears to be weathering the storm for now. Its sales numbered 100,027.
Nissan was the other gigantic gainer in February, as it sold 70,189 units compared with just 54,249 a year earlier. The Infiniti brand, which was a drag on the automaker for much of 2009, saw its sales edge up 11 percent, on the strength of the G37 line.
The two sales success stories of 2009 -- Hyundai and Subaru -- continued their climb last month. Hyundai sold 34,004 cars, while Subaru managed 18,098 -- a 38-percent year-over-year increase.
For more analysis, check out Auto Observer: Even Blizzards Can't Obscure This: Ford Tops GM in February Sales.
notabigdeal says:
06:55 PM, 03/ 4/10
Guess Hyundai is slowing down and things are a little bit more normal....except toyota. Fleet sales or no fleet sales ford still did well and it is deserved. I mean this is the home market domestic makers should be selling more cars. If it wasn't then we'd be having some serious problems....
brn says:
10:21 PM, 03/ 4/10
I just don't get the Nissan climb.
1487 says:
05:50 AM, 03/ 5/10
"Amid all the recall uproar, Toyota saw an expected dip in February but appears to be weathering the storm for now. Its sales numbered 100,027."
Love that spin. Last year they outsold Ford and this year they got outsold by 41k units. Thats not "weathering the storm" thats called a huge 1 year swing. Last year people were talking about Toyota passing GM as #1 US automaker- now Edmunds is predicting Ford will pass them for #2 slot for the year. Not sure what Toyota has to be proud of considering those numbers.
brn:
Nissan is the incentive leader amongst the Japanese automakers. They are into fleets and discounts big time.
cr_driver says:
07:06 AM, 03/ 5/10
But then you gotta consider that hyundai is up vrs last year, which was one of the few with growth instead of the majority decreasing.
But subie is definitely flying high, wow.
teekay13 says:
10:08 AM, 03/ 5/10
good job Ford.
mikeolan says:
03:51 PM, 03/ 5/10
@brn
Nissan's product lineup is pretty much across the board better than that of Toyota's or Honda's with the exception of the Versa or Sentra being behind their Honda counterparts (which are still pretty good for the class.)
Likely Camry shoppers probably test drove the Altima or Maxima and Accord and found the Honda to be too junky.
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04:16 AM, 04/ 1/10
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