UPDATED: November sales: The Big Mo
Industry maintains momentum despite short selling month.
UPDATE: Mercedes-Benz numbers are in.
That's everybody but Daimler, folks. Check back tomorrow for the luxury update.
Determined in DetroitFCA was first to report, as usual, and announced an overall increase of 3%. While Dodge's numbers are no longer being artificially deflated by the discontinued Avenger, it still joined the rest of FCA's small car brands on the negative side of the balance sheet. Solid performances from Jeep (up 20%) and Ram (up 5%) kept the news good. November also marks the first month of year-over-year sales reporting for Alfa, which officially went on sale a year ago. The numbers are essentially meaningless, but they exist.
Ford posted a very modest 0.4% overall bump in November, with a 0.6% increase from the core brand offset very slightly by a 2.4% decline at Lincoln. Both brands remain up YTD.
GM's numbers closely mirrored those of the FCA lineup--up overall but not across the board. Chevy held strong with a 4.8% bump vs. a year ago, but Buick took a 16.6% hit. GMC, strangely, also posted a small decline. GM overall was up 1.5% from last year.
Improvement from importsNissan posted a 3.8% overall improvement, closely mirrored by a 3.9% bump for its core brand. Infiniti managed a 2.6% improvement, giving the Japanese automaker an entirely positive month.
Audi reported its 59th consecutive monthly sales record, but only just. With a 0.4% increase vs. November of 2014, keeping that streak alive for five straight years may prove difficult.
Volkswagen, on the other hand, could not keep up its momentum, finally succumbing to the inventory shortfalls created by the TDI stop-sale and depleted stock of models heavily incentivized earlier in the fall. The German automaker posted a 24.7% drop vs. November, 2014.
Subaru, of course, is up, having already beat its 2014 total with a month left to go in 2015. Hyundai and Kia both posted modest gains in keeping with their slow-and-steady 2015 progress.
Mixed resultsHonda has reported in with a 5.2% drop overall, with the Honda brand off 3.5% vs. a year ago and Acura down almost 18%. With adjustments for the missing sales days in 2015, Honda's slip goes away, but in straight year-over-year numbers, it's not so rosy.
Toyota managed to hold on to its increases, posting monthly improvements across all three brands--even Scion, which continues to build momentum toward a break-even point.
Limited luxuryLexus posted a 6.8% gain for a total of 29,340 units sold in November. We expected big numbers from BMW, and we aren't disappointed. The brand posted a November sales total of 32,003, bringing them to 311,398 YTD, keeping them ahead of Lexus by roughly 8,000 units. Mercedes-Benz, with a handful of models in transition, couldn't keep pace with 2014. The brand still moved more metal than Lexus, but managed only 30,043 for the month, down 13% from a year ago, keeping them in second place behind BMW YTD by ~3,000 units.
Swedish WishVolvo is back with a vengeance. The new XC90 has completely revitalized the brand, which cruised to another massive gain in November.
All in all, what may stand out most is that, aside from the continuing meteoric rise of the new XC90, there are very few noteworthy tidbits in November's sales numbers. This one goes in the books for being somewhat unremarkable, even if the industry is on pace for its strongest year in over a decade.
Stay tuned for the rest.
November year-over-year:
- Acura down 17.6%, 12,244- Alfa up 83%, 44- Audi up 0.4%, 16,700- Bentley down 41.8%, 188- BMW up 3.2%, 32,003- Buick down 16.6%, 15,960- Cadillac up 1.8%, 13,390- Chevrolet up 4.8%, 156,907- Chrysler down 12%, 23,953- Dodge down 8%, 38,938- Fiat down 3%, 3,029- Ford up 0.6%, 179,876- GMC down 1.9%, 43,039- Honda down 3.5%, 103,197- Hyundai up 11.8%, 60,007- Infiniti up 2.6%, 11,694- Jaguar down 15%, 1,065- Jeep up 20%, 68,903- Kia up 1.4%, 45,553- *Lamborghini up 1.6%, 63- Land Rover up 79.4%, 6,539- Lexus up 6.8%, 29,340- Lincoln down 2.4%, 7,918- Maserati down 10%, 1,083- Mazda up 7%, 22.732- **Mercedes-Benz down 13.1%, 30,043- MINI down 11.3%, 4,444- Mitsubishi up 3.6%, 6,772- Nissan up 3.9%, 95,389- Porsche down 5.3%, 4,450- Ram up 1%, 41,107- Scion up 32.7%, 5,183- smart down 18.8%, 662- Subaru up 2%, 46,070- Toyota up 2%, 154,994- Volkswagen down 24.7%, 23,882- Volvo up 90.5%, 6,903
2015 year-to-date
- Acura up 6.9%, 160,342- Alfa up 2425%, 606- Audi up 11.7%, 181,803- Bentley down 18.8%, 2,105- BMW up 4.4%, 311,398- Buick down 3%, 202,347- Cadillac flat (-0.1%), 154,480- Chevrolet up 4.8%, 1,936,553- Chrysler up 8%, 300,554- Dodge down 11%, 467,897- Fiat down 9%, 38,605- Ford up 5.0%, 2,283,553- GMC up 11.1%, 498,756- Honda up 1.7%, 1,275,316- Hyundai up 5.6%, 698,202- Infiniti up 12,4%, 118.405- Jaguar down 5.8%, 13,269- Jeep up 23%, 775,374- Kia up 6.9%, 571,577- *Lamborghini up 2.8%, 693- Land Rover up 35.9%, 62,141- Lexus up 11.7%, 303,221- Lincoln up 6.6%, 90,367- Maserati down 7.9%, 10,624- Mazda up 3.2%, 289,890- **Mercedes-Benz up 4.2%, 308,885- MINI up 8.1%, 49,497- Mitsubishi up 23%, 87,455- Nissan up 5.4%, 1,227,213- Porsche up 9.3%, 47,820- Ram up 5%, 443,344- Scion down 6.5%, 50,654- smart down 28.1%, 6,815- Subaru up 14%, 526,401- Toyota up 4%, 1,907,088- Volkswagen down 4.3%, 318,484- Volvo up 18%, 60,705
*Based on estimates from Automotive News.** NOT including Sprinter
Note that last month's highlights and lowlights listed below are merely a selection of some of the month's bigger movers.
Highlights (sales up > 40%)Volvo XC90, up 2,470% to 2,236Ford Transit Connect, up 93.8% to 4,237Volkswagen Tiguan, up 87.7% to 3,907Cadillac SRX, up 52.7% to 5,087Chevy Volt, up 48.2% to 1,980
Lowlights (sales down > 30%)
Cadillac CTS, down 50% to 1,224