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Folks,
I thought everyone might be interested to see the state of the car market today. This article came from Motor Trend and further at the bottom is a comment from a Mustang owner about the new Mustang coming in 2014.
I deleted a lot of advertising and comments so just browse through this post to see the comments of the Mustang owner.
Midnight Blue
MCOM Historian
September 2012 Sales: Toyota Catches Ford as Compact Sales Remain Steady
Toyota Motor Sales USA, which includes Lexus and Scion, came within 3066 units of catching Ford Motor Company for second place in U.S. auto sales last month. It has happened before; Toyota has been number two several times, especially after the Fall 2008 Lehmann Brothers collapse.
This has been a better year than ‘11 for everybody, including Ford and General Motors, though the two leaders clearly are losing market share as post-tsunami Toyota, its Japanese competitors and Chrysler Group, which was left for dead in 2009, return to their natural levels. It looks like we’ll have a 14.3-million unit year, more or less, which is nothing to write home about – except when compared with 2009 and ’10.
GM is up 3.9 percent, year-to-date through September, while Ford is up 5.4 percent, so despite having a more mediocre month, Ford is holding on to market share a bit better than GM. Toyota is up 31 percent year-to-date. Chrysler was up 12 percent in its best September since 2007, and up 24 percent for the year through September.
So the U.S. market is heading to that European model of top-three manufacturers having about 18 percent share each, even as the European model is collapsing in Europe. Last week, Chrysler and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne survived a coup attempt to oust him as president of the European auto manufacturers’ group. Earlier, he had charged that rival Volkswagen Group was dumping cars on the market. Ford’s European marketing chief charged that dealers there were selling cars to themselves to hype car sales numbers. Peugeot reportedly lost $450 per car sold for the first half of the year, and GM’s Susan Docherty said that cars in the market were discounted an average of 30 percent to overcome too much capacity and too few buyers.
It was a good month for the U.S. market though, with a Seasonably Adjusted Average Rate nearing 15 million, depending on who was measuring. GM, Ford and Toyota all agreed we’d end the year about the 14.3-million level. Compacts gained a bit on midsize cars, and a lot on compact CUVs, three segments much cross-shopped. If you add together the top five-bestselling models in each category, midsize accounted for 39.7% of the total of 15, compact cars 33.9% and compact CUVs 26.3% in September. This compares with 38.5%, 31.1% and 30.1% in August.
Of course, the high share of Chevy Cruze fleet sales and the sell down of such models as the old Malibu and Ford Fusion play into this. There were a couple of standouts outside the top five in the car categories, including strong Mazda3 sales in the compact category, and strong sales of the midsize Kia Optima.
Tuesday morning, as automakers revealed their sales numbers, my Twitter feed (@MT_Lassa) revealed that consumers are buying more bikes than cars in Italy. I wonder how Pinarello’s market share compares with Fiat’s. One thing I do know is that so long as European politicians continue to pander to European unions, automakers there will see none of the relief from over-capacity that we got in the U.S. after the ’09 bankruptcies.
And so, to the numbers …
1. GM: 210,245, + 1.5%.
•All three U.S. pony/musclecars recorded sales declines. Chevrolet Camaro retains its lead, with 5670 sold (-18.9%), then Ford Mustang at 4439 (-12.2%) and Dodge Challenger at 3230 (-3%).
•GM says passenger car sales were up 29%, while trucks and big SUVs struggled. The Chevy Cruze led at 25,787, up 42.5%, with 39% of that fleet. GM says the car is on track for 22% fleet for the year.
•Chevy Equinox was up 2.2%, to 15,835. GMC Terrain was up 8.3%, to 7486.
•Chevy Malibu was up 0.7%, to 11,188, as the ’13 model starts to take over from the ’12.
•Chevrolet sold 2851 Volts, a record, up 294.3%. Chevy has sold 16,348 Volts through September. Last month’s fleet share was 3.3%.
•Buick division was up 7.9% to 14,673, while Cadillac was off 1.3% to 12,579.
•Buick LaCrosse sales rose 5.6%, to 4580, Enclave was off 13.5%, to 4210, and the division sold 4042 Veranos.
•Cadillac sold 4660 SRXes, off 4.9%, and 3103 CTSes, off 33.5%. It sold 2506 XTSes and 611 ATSes.
•Chevy sold 36,425 Silverados, off 16.6% and GMC sold 13,636 Sierras, off 1.9%, for a total of 50,061
2. Ford Motor Company: 174,976, -0.1%.
•F-Series was up 1.2%, to 55,077.
•Ford sold 19,736 Focuses, up 91.4%. Escape was its bestseller after F-Series, at 23,148, up 14.5%.
•Fusion was off 37%, to 12,300.
•Fiesta was off 1.1%, to 3923.
•Explorer was up 18.7%, to 13,453.
•Ford sold 828 Interceptor sedans and 596 Interceptor utilities.
•Lincoln was off 3.1%, to 6802.
•MKZ was Lincoln’s bestseller, up 33% to 2575 (this is the ’12 model). MKX was down 6.8%, to 2110.
3. Toyota Motor Sales: 171,910, + 41.5%.
•Camry was up 37.8%, to 34,252.
•Corolla was up 42.6%, to 23,026.
•Prius was up 103%, to 18,932.
•Scion sold 1133 FR-Ses, though it sold 2186 tCs (+24.8%) and 1799 xBs (+27.1%).
•RAV4 was up 80.4%, to 13,796.
•Highlander was up 44.8%, to 10,927.
•Tundra was up 39.5%, to 9338, while Tacoma was up 48.9%, to 12,176.
•Lexus sold 7046 RX models, up 40.8%.
•Lexus ES was up 80.7% thanks to a model change, to 6553.
•The new GS was up 408.4%, to 1454.
4. Chrysler Group: 142,041, +12%.
•After Ram pickup, 25,973, up 6%, Dodge Caravan is the next-bestseller, at 13,488, up 32%.
•Jeep Grand Cherokee was up 19% to 12,539, while Wrangler was up 6%, to 12,097.
•Chrysler 300 up 7%, to 4762, Dodge Charger off 14%, to 5863.
•Chrysler 200 was up 13%, to 9881.
•Dodge sold 5235 Darts, Fiat sold 4176 500s, the latter up 51%.
5. American Honda: 102,845, + 29.3%.
•Accord was up 56.6% to 29,182.
•Civic was up 57%, to 21,546.
•CR-V was up 13.6%, to 22,268.
•Acura MDX was up 60.4%, to 4692. TL was up 29.1%, to 3236.
•Acura sold 1737 ILX models. TSX was off 46%, to 1681.
6. Nissan North America: 91,907, -1.1%.
•Japan’s natural disasters didn’t affect Nissan last year as much as Toyota and Honda, and so Nissan was able to grab some of their potential sales in September ’11, which is why sales have leveled off.
•Altima sales were strong, at 24,448, up 0.4%.
•Sentra was up 15.3%, to 9345.
•Nissan sold 3205 of its new unibody Pathfinders, plus 38.7%.
•Rogue was up 12.7%, to 12,106.
•While Nissan brand sales fell 2.4%, Infiniti was up 11.4%, to 9445.
•Infinit’s G sedan was off 28.8%, to 2807. G coupe was off 20.1%, to 870.
•JX was Infiniti’s next-bestseller, at 2251 units.
7. Hyundai: 60,025, +15.3%
•Sonata was off 4.7%, to 17,332.
•Elantra was up 27.2%, to 18,305.
•Genesis was off 11%, to 2669.
8. Kia: 48,105, +35.9%.
•Optima was up 131% (!) to 14,304.
•Sorento was off 9% to 10,066.
•Soul sales rose 42% to 9467.
9. Volkswagen of America: 36,399, +37.2%.
•The new Passat fell off slightly from its 10,000+ pace, at 9500 units, up 199.1%.
•Jetta leads the brand, off 1.8%, to 14,750.
•Beetle was up 262.7%, to 2622.
•Golf was up 29.5%, to 3250.
•TDI models accounted for 23.9% of VW sales in September.
10. Subaru of America: 27,683, +32.2%.
•Outback was up 39.1%, to 10,583.
•Forester was off 8%, to 6066.
•Sold 508 BRZs, more than XV Crosstrek (192) and Tribeca (139, -45.7%)
11. BMW Group: 26,660, +3.5%.
•BMW 3 Series was off 16.8%, to 7731.
•5 Series was off 22.2%, to 3189.
•X5 led CUVs, off 0.7% to 3850.
•X3 was up 63.7%, to 3034.
•Mini sales spiked 22.5%, to 4899.
•Countryman led Mini sales, up 65.9%, to 2002.
12. Mercedes-Benz USA: 25,980, +8.7%.
•Mercedes-Benz, the brand, was up 7% to 23,156 and beat BMW, the brand, at 21,761, up 0.1%.
•C-Class led, at 7872, up 14.7%.
•Next was E-Class, at 4826, off 5.8%.
•GLK was up 65.8%, to 3206.
•Sprinter sales rose 0.8%, to 1794.
•Smart was up 119.6%, to 1030.
13. Mazda North America: 24,135, -5.4%.
•Mazda3 had a great month at 14,031, up 57.1%.
•CX-5 led CUVs at 4468.
•CX-9 was off 52.4%, to 2000.
•Miata was up 16.6% to 505.
14. Audi: 12,302, +26.5%.
•Brand continues to set monthly sales records, though still at half Mercedes or BMW sales.
•A4 led, up 12.8% to 3035.
•Q5 was up 0.9% to 2256.
•A6 sales rose 83.7%, to 2065.
15. Volvo: 4977, -1.3%.
•Sold 1562 S60s, 1562 XC60s.
16. Mitsubishi: 4806, -17.2%.
•Led by Outlander Sport’s best month ever, up 49% to 2253, or 46.8% of total sales.
•Lancer (including Sportback and Evo) sales was 1326, off 14.6%.
•Sold 36 i EV models.
17. Jaguar/Land Rover: 4640, +20%.
•Land Rover was up 33%, to 3636.
•Jaguar sales fell 10%, to 1004.
•Range Rover Sport was the volume leader, up 23% to 1514.
18. Porsche: 2736, +26.1%.
•Cayenne led at 1370, up 47.3%.
•911 was up 5 units, to 509.
•Boxster/Cayman was up 13% to 251.
19. American Suzuki: 1921, -5.2%.
•VW CC outsold Suzuki by 45 units.
Midsize models September 2012:
1.) Toyota Camry 34,252
2.) Honda Accord 29,192
3.) Nissan Altima 24,448
4.) Ford Fusion 21,690
5.) Hyundai Sonata 17,332
TOTAL: 126,874
Compacts September 2012:
1.) Chevy Cruze 25,787
2.) Toyota Corolla 23,026
3.) Honda Civic 21,546
4.) Ford Focus 19,736
5.) Hyundai Elantra 18,305
TOTAL 108,400
Compact CUVs September 2012:
1.) Ford Escape 23,148
2.) Honda CR-V 22,268
3.) Chevy Equinox 15,835
4.) Toyota RAV4 13,796
5.) Nissan Rogue 12,106
TOTAL 84,153
Having had 3 Mustangs over the last 45 years, I think the current one, which I test drove, is one of the very best! If I were in the market to buy another Mustang, I would grab it up soon. The new IRS Mustang to debut on the 50th anniversary (Spring 2014), is on an even smaller wheelbase than the current one (which is smaller than the original). Most importantly, it doesn’t even look like a Mustang, but Ford says it wants to “appeal” to a world market. If you liked the Ford Probe, you’ll like the new Mustang.
_________________
The Red Baron
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