speedflex

Altima sold 37,763 in March. Camry did 37,553.

ydooby

Wow haha sorry had a brain fart moment. Somehow had 27,763 and 27,553 in my mind for some reason.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

crap winter weather.

why does lexus have the hs on their sales chart? (1 unit sold )

GS69

Honda & Detroit 3 Set Pace as March Sales Advance

U.S. light-vehicle sales -- led by strong pickup and crossover demand at Detroit's automakers -- rose 3 percent to 1.45 million units last month, slightly below forecasts but a positive signal the spring selling season is off to a solid start.

It was the industry's best month since 1.48 million light vehicles were sold in August 2007.

Overall, car sales slipped 1 percent last month to 759,172 while light-truck volume climbed 9 percent to 693,866 units.

General Motors and Ford Motor Co. each posted gains of 6 percent, while Chrysler Group rose 5 percent. Honda Motor Co., bucking a generally weak month for Japan's biggest automakers, recorded a 7 percent increase, aided by demand for the redesigned Accord.

At Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., March deliveries edged up 1 percent.

"A strong 1st-quarter close and increased consumer confidence continue to position the auto industry as a leader in the economic recovery," said Bob Carter, senior vice president of automotive operations at Toyota Motor Sales.

The seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate, a broad sign of the U.S. market's overall health, rose to 15.25 million. Though it was at the low end of analysts' expectations, it was still the fifth consecutive month the SAAR has topped 15 million -- the longest such stretch in 5 years.

In March 2012, the light-vehicle SAAR came in at 14.1 million.

And the 3 percent monthly gain was behind the forecast of a 4.2 percent March advance -- the average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Winter weather

Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association, said today that a late-month blast of wintry weather in some parts of the country may have curbed showroom traffic.

"New car sales will continue to pace growth in the U.S. economy during the 1st half of the year, as consumers absorb the payroll and income tax increases and continue to spend more this year," Taylor said.

The rise in U.S. stock indices and home prices this year -- coupled with mortgage refinancing -- is lifting household wealth and serving as a boost to new car and light-truck demand.

At Jaguar Land Rover North America, March sales increased 4 percent, with sales for the year rising 14 percent.

The new BRZ sports car and Crosstrek crossover, along with the redesigned Forester, helped lift March sales at Subaru 13 percent.

Light-vehicle sales have now climbed 6 percent to 3.69 million units this year through March. Car sales have climbed 3 percent, while light-truck deliveries have risen 10 percent.

Among major automakers, GM, Ford, Toyota, Chrysler and VW have gained U.S. market share this year through March, while Nissan and Hyundai-Kia have lost ground. Honda's share remains unchanged at 9.2 percent.

Sales in March were flat at the Toyota division while Lexus volume rose 15 percent. Toyota's results reflected the second-consecutive double-digit decline in Camry sales.

Cadillac set the pace at GM, with sales up 50 percent, followed by a 37 percent rise at Buick. GMC rose 12 percent while volume edged up 0.5 percent at Chevrolet, GM's biggest division.

Car sales, down 3 percent, were the only drag on GM's results last month.

While the company benefitted from deliveries of the new Cadillac ATS, Chevrolet Spark and Buick Enclave, sales of the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick Regal slumped.

2 records at Ford

At Ford, volume at the Ford division rose 7 percent, but Lincoln deliveries were down 23 percent.

Sales of the Fusion mid-sized sedan and Escape crossover set all-time monthly records, and F-series pickup deliveries climbed 16 percent, Ford said.

Overall, Ford Motor's car sales slipped 0.2 percent, while utility deliveries advanced 14 percent and truck volume rose 6 percent, the company said.

Chrysler Group, helped by strong car and Ram pickup volume, said its March deliveries rose 5 percent, extending the company's stretch of U.S. sales gains to a record 36 months.

The sales milestone tops a previous U.S. sales streak of 35 consecutive months from February 1992 through December 1994, Chrysler said.

The automaker's car sales rose 21 percent, while light-truck volume slid 2 percent last month.

Deliveries rose 3 percent at the Fiat brand and 15 percent at Dodge.

Hot Ram

Sales of the Ram pickup jumped 25 percent to 33,831, an all-time monthly record, helping overall Ram brand sales rise 24 percent.

But volume slipped 2 percent at the Chrysler brand and 13 percent at Jeep.

It was the 6th straight monthly sales decline at Jeep. The discontinuation of the Jeep Liberty SUV in August 2012 and the launch of a refreshed Grand Cherokee have dampened Jeep inventories and sales.

The March results come as some analysts and automakers raise their industry sales forecast for the year, citing diminishing risks from Europe's economic woes, higher taxes and federal budget talks in Washington.

Brett Hoselton, an analyst with KeyBanc, raised his 2013 industry U.S. sales forecast today to 15.2 million units from 15.0 million units.

"A confluence of favorable indicators drives our optimism, such as pent-up demand from an aging fleet, strength in the housing market, widespread credit availability, stable fuel prices and unaffected consumer purchasing habits from higher taxes," Hoselton said in a report.

"Incentive activity remains well managed as average transaction prices continued to increase above the increase in incentives, a positive for the gross profit outlook," he added.

Edmunds.com, an online shopping site, today raised its full-year sales forecast to 15.5 million, citing healthier household finances, pent-up demand and an increase in leases scheduled to end in the 2nd half of the year compared to the last six months of 2012.

"Car shoppers seem unfazed by fiscal issues in the news," Edmunds.com Chief Economist Lacey Plache said Monday. "Even though consumer confidence has been up and down so far this year, there are 'wealth effects' that are making Americans feel comfortable finally buying the new cars they've been waiting for."

Automakers are counting on pent-up demand, new models, and a favorable financing and credit environment to keep the industry's recovery on track this year. At the same time, pickup and SUV demand is getting a lift from the steady rebound in housing and construction markets.

Hostleton, in his report today, said full-sized pickup volumes "are expected to outpace the industry, fueled by the general business and housing recovery."

At Colonial Automotive Group in Acton, Mass., which operates 15 Chevrolet, Mazda, Subaru, Dodge, Chrysler Jeep, and VW stores in the Boston area, COO Patrick Browne expects March sales to rise about 8 percent.

"Particularly here, the Subaru brand continues to be very strong," Browne said. "Chrysler Jeep has jumped back and is going strong ... Mazda and Chevy are also very strong.

"We're looking for a record year ... [even with] significant margin pressure on both new and used cars," he added.

Ryan Beene and Brianna Valleskey contributed to this report.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong date for when Barclays analyst Brian Johnson raised his forecast for 2013 industry U.S. sales to 15.5 million. It was in November 2012.

You can reach David Phillips at dphillips@crain.com.

doublehh03

The Altimas sales are vastly misleading. Here in socal, you can get the new ones $3-4k off factory invoice (not even MSRP). And Nissan sells a lot of that to fleets (21% through February) (you see a ton of them at rental places). Nissan shouldn't like its position right now with a brand-new redesigned Altima in its first year.

ydooby

Thanks for the insight. Do you happen to have the incentives and fleet sales figures for the Camry as well for comparison?

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Guys lets knock off the "drop the ES" topic.... And also the personal commentary and borderline threats.

doublehh03

Here in socal, you can buy the Camry for up to $1k below invoice (more depending on your bargaining skills). And through February (Autoweek), Toyota sells 14% of its vehicles to fleets.

For the Accord, you barely get much off the sedan. But the incentives are much higher for the Accord coupe (you can get below invoice for that). Honda sells 2% to fleet through February.

More info: the American big 3 all have more than 25% fleets, with Ford a whopping 33%. I know Chrysler made it a goal to reduce their fleet sales this year. It's no surprise the Escape is the #1 selling CUV.

Incentives clearly matter b/c you clearly see the drop in the Civic sales are nowhere close to last year when they were basically giving it away with $2-3k incentives and great APR.

But you clearly gotta move numbers so incentives are appropriate most of the time.

LexFather

You are jumping up for joy and the Altima which includes a coupe outsold the Camry for 1 month by 100 units

That is right, you are making a big hoopla over 100 units. lol
Altima 37,763
Camry 37,663 OMG WORLD IS ENDING CAMRY IS ON ITS DEATH BED, DOWN 100 UNITS
Accord 36,504
Fusion 30,284
Malibu 18,539
Sonata 18,031
200 16,593
Optima 14,366
Avenger 12,439
Passat 9,521
Mazda6 6,102
Legacy 4,400

The S2000 hasn't been around since 2009 and the HS likely has a few units lingering on lots since it was around for 2012. Big difference but thanks for showing everyone ________________.

Why don't you show or ask for incentives for all mid-size cars, why are you picking on just the Camry? Or maybe do your own homework?

They all had incentives, every last one. They rarely if ever are broken down by car model, they are broken down by brand.

Nissan/Infiniti - $2,765
Honda/Acura - $1,531
Toyota/Lexus - $1,515
Hyundai/Kia - $1,369

LexFather

Crap I forgot to save a spot

Monthly Totals

BMW-27,078
Mercedes-24,646
Lexus-23,180
Cadillac-15,751
Audi-13,253
Infiniit-11,103
Lincoln-6,825
Land Rover-4,314
Porsche-3487
Jaguar-1,408


Buick-18,007
Acura-14,100


Large Class
S-1,216
7- 1,046
LS- 980
A8- 563
Panamera-411
Equus- 291
(can't find XJ)


Midsize
5- 5,306
E-4,009
GS- 1,882
A6-1,746
MKS- 925
XF- 800
M- 641
RLX- 336
RL- 8

mordecai

I'm glad the GS made it up to sub-2k level. I hope it can sustain it. From what we saw last year during the GS' launch, it seems that production capacity can't go beyond 3k right now so it's pointless to hope for the GS outselling the E and 5-series.

Sens4Miles

Take away all those fleet sales and the Accord is #1 on the list among actual customers...

LexFather

A point no one cares about except asterisk Internet people. How about take away accord coupe sales then?

The hilarious attempts to dethrone the Camry are just that, hilarious

Sens4Miles

Is the ES not considered "midsize"?
Why is it not included?
Also, why isn't the Volvo S80 on this list?

(fail)

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Folks, both of these items continue to derail this thread (several posts removed). Please keep this thread topical and polite.