BW: GM pushes for buzz, but market share fizzles
http://www.businessweek.com/autos/au...hes_for_b.html

Both GM and Ford said that their transaction prices were higher and incentives lower in March than a year earlier. Susan Docherty, GM’s vice-president of marketing, said that her company’s incentives were below the industry average for the first time on record.

Edmunds.com, an online car pricing service, estimated GM’s incentives at an average of $3,519 last month, still above Toyota’s record high of $2,256. Honda and Hyundai also offered significantly more generous deals than in February.

Fleet sales made up a substantial portion of some carmakers’ overall performance last month. While GM’s retail sales rose by 7.5 per cent, fleet orders soared by 64 per cent. Almost a third of Ford’s deliveries last month went to fleet customers.

Toyota Offers Highest Incentives Ever in March, Edmunds.com Reports
April 01, 2010

Toyota, seeking to come back from recalls, quality issues and negitave publicity, set new heights for its incentives as it offered zero-percent financing and discounted leases throughout March, accourding to Edmunds.com's estimates.

The average automaker incentive in March was $2,742 per vehicle, up $100, or 3.8 percent, from February 2010, but down $423, or 13.4 percent, from March 2009.

Those hefty incentives offered by Toyota and other automakers who followed suit are expected to lift March car sales to their highest levels since last summer's Cash for Clunkers program, Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell predicted.

Toyota's incentives, to which some of its Japanese competitors responded, pushed the combined incentive spending of Japanese automakers to their highest ever. From February to March, Japanese automakers boosted their spend by $224 to $2,058 per vehicle sold.

Combined incentives spending for domestic manufacturers averaged $3,413 per vehicle sold in March 2010, down from $3,463 in February 2010. European automakers increased incentives spending by $151 to $2,763 per vehicle sold. Korean automakers increased incentives spending by $349 to $1,997 per vehicle sold.

In March, the industry's aggregate incentive spending is estimated to have totaled approximately $3.07 billion, up 49.4 percent from February 2010. Chrysler, Ford and General Motors spent an aggregate of $1.7 billion, or 54.8 percent of the total; Japanese manufacturers spent $922 million, or 30.5 percent; European manufacturers spent $262 million, or 8.7 percent; and Korean manufacturers spent $183 million, or 6.1 percent.

Among vehicle segments, large trucks had the highest average incentives, $4,290 per vehicle sold, followed by large SUV at $3,843. Subcompact cars had the lowest average incentives per vehicle sold, $1,294, followed by sport cars at $1,416. Analysis of incentives expenditures as a percentage of average sticker price for each segment shows large trucks averaged the highest, 12.6 percent, followed by large cars at 11.9 percent of sticker price. Premium sport cars averaged the lowest with 2.7 percent and sport cars followed with 4.4 percent of sticker price.

Comparing all brands, Scion spent the least, $333 followed by Mini at $697 per vehicle sold. At the other end of the spectrum, Lincoln spent the most, $5,205, followed by BMW at $4,794 per vehicle sold. Relative to their vehicle prices, Saturn and Chrysler spent the most, 15.0 percent and 13.7 percent of sticker price, respectively; while Porsche spent 1.3 and Scion spent 1.9 percent.

"April is typically a slower sales month than March, and we're already getting signal that some automakers will extend their incentives," said Edmunds.com's Caldwell. "The question is will they be effective. The trend we saw in March was that incentives were very effective early in the month but far less so by month's end."

BMW intends to pass Lexus for the No. 1 rank in the U.S. by 2012 on the strength of new models, Jim O’Donnell, president of the Munich-based company’s North American unit, said yesterday.

In March, Ford sales to retail customers were 38 percent higher than a year ago, and fleet sales were up 53 percent. Individuals, small businesses and large fleet customers are turning to Ford to meet their needs knowing that high-quality, class-leading fuel economy and strong resale values reduce ownership costs and provide a compelling value proposition.

Fleet Sales by Nameplate

General Motors and Ford reduced their fleet-commercial sales in February, while Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan and Honda all experienced increases compared to the year-ago period.

GM's share of total industry volume was 14.62 percent in February, down from 17.53 percent in the year-ago period. Ford's share was 12.38 percent, down from 13.52 percent.

Chrysler's share of total industry volume increased from 14.06 percent in February 2009 to 14.82 percent in February 2010.

Toyota had the largest increase in market share - from 13.92 percent in February 2009 to 16.27 percent in February 2010. The jump reflects a high fleet and commercial demand for the Prius and other Toyota hybrids, which eased in February due to buyers' concerns about the manufacturer's sudden-acceleration issues, Spinella wrote.

Honda also saw a notable jump in market share, but it was due to higher demand among small and micro businesses. The manufacturer's market share was 6.92 percent in February 2010, up from 4.51 percent in February 2009.

Nissan's market share was 7.51 percent in February 2010, up from 6.29 percent in the year-ago period.