Despite worries that China’s economy is growing at a slower pace and last year’s volatility in China’s stock markets, demand remains strong, especially in the so-called second-tier cities with populations of less than 5 million.
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The automaker’s pullback on low-margin fleet sales and its focus on retail has resulted in lower-than-expected sales in many months.
But the start of the year has been uneven for both USA auto makers with GM’s sales down 1% in March as it replaced several models with newer versions, and Ford’s volume up 5% in the same month.
Let’s get some of the details out in the open.
“Consumer preference for SUVs and pickup trucks continued unabated in April and helped to propel us to our strongest April sales in 11 years”, Reid Bigland, head of USA sales for FCA, said in a statement. The company announced a jump of 3% in retail sales to mark last month as the best April retail sales results since 2006. GM officials said May is expected to see the largest year-over-year decline in rental sales.
Still, there are signs that industry sales are near a peak.
Not all fleet sales are bad business.
Some cars bucked the downward sales trend. Ford posted record SUV sales, although its vehicle sales fell 12%. Total sales were below year-earlier levels for all four brands (Cadillac down 29 percent, Buick down 2.8 percent, Chevrolet down 2.3 percent and GMC down 0.1 percent), but sales of full-size pickups remain strong as Chevrolet sold almost 50,000 Silverados (up 8.7 percent), and GMC sold 20,531 Sierra pickups, up 13.5 percent. However, as I noted recently, fleet sales should no longer be considered akin to the devil. Similarly, its pick-up truck Ford F-150 which has been the favorite U.S. truck for the last four decades, helped to escalate F-Series sales for the automaker.
Ford said it sold more than 65,000 SUVs, the best April in its history, led by the Explorer with a 22 percent increase.
The key light-vehicle sales number followed by analysts – the seasonally adjusted annual rate – rose to 17.42 million in April compared with 16.75 million units a year ago, according to Autodata Corporation. Lindland said consumers are pulling sales up and automakers aren’t creating demand with wild incentives or insane lease deals as they have in the past.
It was Ford’s best April in 10 years.
The automaker’s average transaction prices (ATPs) were at $35,400 in April, over $4,200 above the industry average.
Automakers typically have at least one surprising piece of data, and Ford’s April didn’t disappoint.
Japanese automakers also road the year-over-year sales uptrend in April. Many SUVs are built on the same underpinnings as cars.
The Italian- American automaker delivered a total of 199,631 auto units last month to mark a jump of 5.6% over the same period of the previous year. On the flip side, Lincoln’s vehicle sales are down 7% for the year, with its flagship sedan, the MKZ, posting a sales decline of 27% last month.
Honda and Nissan set April records, Ford posted record SUV sales and Toyota sold more trucks and SUVs than ever.
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