Americans Buy Cars In May, Not January

Completed because of a request from The Good Car Girl, the embedded spreadsheet you see here was meant to look at seasonal changes in the U.S. automotive marketplace. You, however, can look at it with whatever questions you may have and find answers. Monthly sales data (supplied by Automotive News Data Center) can be found for every month over the last ten years. Beyond that, The Good Car Guy has allowed Google Docs formulas to go to work on averages.

As you'll see, January is never a good month for selling cars, but you guessed that already. Of greater importance to new car dealerships, May is the best month for selling vehicles. In fact, in three of the last ten years May was the top-selling month. Only in 2008 was January not the lowest volume month, but that January was worse than any of the previous 84 months on the chart. Clearly the middle months of the year are better times to sell cars, but December is moderately decent, despite the Christmas shopping at Apple stores and Target.



The best month in the last decade? It wasn't Cash For Clunkers. July 2005 was rockin'. January 2009, on the other hand, was the lowest volume month of the decade. Sales had been spiralling downward, then recovered slightly in December 2008, then plummeted nearly 238,000 units in the first month of Barack Obama's presidency.

Januarys, on average, feature about 250,000 fewer sales than the average month. The months of May are almost 160,000 sales better than the average month. It's interesting to look back and see some anomalies which, only at first, seem unexplainable. Remember October 2001? After 9/11, incentives on new vehicles skyrocketed. So did sales. August 2009 presented the aforementioned Cash For Clunkers spike. In September 2008, economic crisis laid hold on the United States like that concussion has Sidney Crosby right now. Every automaker posted a decrease in sales compared with September 2007; Audi fared best with a 5.4% drop. As far as 2010's recovery, it sure wasn't as historically significant as we wish it was. December, 2010's best month, was the eighth-best December of the decade. Average monthly sales in 2010 were 96,589 up on 2008's average but the 12-month average monthly output was 305,723 units below the average month of the decade.

It's not all doom and gloom. January 2011 was up 17% over 2009's January and up 25% over January 2008.


Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
U.S. New Vehicle Market Size: 2001 - 2010
U.S. New Vehicle Market Share By Brand - January 2011
2010 Year End U.S. Auto Sales Charts & Best Sellers

Mexico Auto Sales By Brand - 2010 Year End

The Good Car Guy doesn't pretend to be an expert on the automotive marketplace in Mexico, despite 0.008% of his life having been spent there. Moreover, GoodCarBadCar.net will surely be held responsible for any errors by Mexican family members in their Chevy Suburbans. No joke.

Rather than go into detail explaining how Nissan manages to be number one in Mexico when two other North American outposts of Japan's second-largest automaker can't be among the top five, let's stick with some facts. The overall Mexican new vehicle market was worth 820,419 sales in 2010; that's up 8.7% from 2009. 54.4% of the products were imports, according to the Automotive News Data Center. Go back to 2002 and Mexico's new vehicle market was 1,768,908 units strong. In 2006, that figure grew to 2,041,213 and then gradually began shrinking. From 1,099,878 in 2007, Mexicans then acquired only 1,025,449 in 2008. Those numbers dropped again in 2009 before recovering very slightly in 2010. 

Hundreds of thousands of Canadian and American tourists are accustomed to seeing vehicles in Mexico which aren't on sale north of the Rio Grande. These vehicles aren't just available in Peugeot, Renault, and Seat stores but even from General Motors and Ford. If you can't comprehend how necessary this is, how the Mexican auto market must be catered to uniquely, then you haven't compared the various market sizes in North America. Canada, a country of 34 million people, found within itself room for another 1,558,400 new vehicles in 2010, about one new vehicle for every 22 people. Mexicans, on the other hand, only bought one vehicle for every 55 people, and that was in the strong year of 2007. Obviously automakers are dealing with a very different situation in impoverished, truck-loving Mexico.

Here then is a complete rundown of Mexican auto sales by brand for 2010. 

Rank	Automaker	2010	% Change
#1	Nissan	189,518	+21.3
#2	General Motors	155,590	+12.4
#3	Volkswagen	110,332	+13.2
#4	Ford Motor Company	89,425	-1.8
#5	Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep	78,574	-4.6
#6	Toyota	46,769	-10
#7	Honda	37,790	+7.2
#8	Mazda	25,116	+32.8
#9	Renault	18,046	+56.9
#10	Seat	13,380	-14.1
#11	Mitsubishi	12,533	-12.5
#12	Suzuki	7932	+11.8
#13	Mercedes-Benz	6205	+16.2
#14	Peugeot	6195	-14.5
#15	BMW	5732	+3.7
#16	Audi	5490	+12.7
#17	Fiat	2502	-28.7
#18	Mini	2093	+17.2
#19	Acura	1876	-3.4
#20	Isuzu	1337	+37.6
#21	Volvo	1293	+38.3
#22	smart	936	+38.1
#23	Subaru	500	-33.5
#24	Land Rover	499	+15.5
#25	Porsche	440	-17.8
#26	Jaguar	96	-39.6
#27	Bentley	8	-11.1

Source: Automotive News Data Center & Mexican Automotive Manufacturers Association

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Mexico Auto Sales By Brand - June 2011 Year-To-Date
Mexico Auto Sales By Brand - March 2011 Year-To-Date
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - 2010 Year End
UK Auto Sales By Brand - 2010 Year End
Canada Auto Sales By Brand - 2010 Year End

2010 Truck Sales Figures In USA And Canada

Links to the Best-Selling Truck lists for 2010 are below. This is a new type of post for GoodCarBadCar.net, one that's long overdue and sure to continue.

On a monthly basis, Canadian and U.S. Truck Sales charts won't be displayed together. But as a preview of what's to come, it's interesting to see the strength of the Canadian truck market relative to the size of the overall new vehicle market in Canada's ten provinces and three territories. Take the Ford F-Series as an example. In the U.S. market in 2010, the F-Series formed 4.6% of all sales versus 6.3% of the overall Canadian market. Overall pickup truck sales accounted for 14.1% of all U.S. new vehicle sales in 2010 but an astounding 19.1% of all new vehicle sales in Canada. 

More fun facts: if Ford Canada can increase F-Series sales by just 2.2% they'll have a 100,000 unit vehicle. If General Motors can find 28,420 conquest sales at the expense of Ford, the Silverado and Sierra will combine to be America's best-seller in 2011. And Mazda Canada dealers can throw themselves a party for beating their Mazda USA partners (who weren't exactly competing) since they sold 254 B-Series pickups for every Mazda truck sold in America.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Truck Sales In Canada - December & 2011 Year End
Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks In America - 2010 Year End
Top 5 Best-Selling Trucks In Canada - 2010 Year End
2011's The Good 12 Part 5 - Ford F-150
Truck Sales In America - January 2011
Truck Sales In Canada - January 2011

Porsche Canada 2010 Sales Figures

It seems like ages since GoodCarBadCar.net did a traditional Numbers post on any subject. "Recent" editions examined One Year With A Smart Fortwo and GM's Chevrolet Infusion In Korea. For this, a brief return to GCBC Numbers styles posting, a look at Porsche Canada's 2010 sales figures sounds like fun. 2010 was a record year for Porsche Cars Canada. 2036 Porsche vehicles found owners in the year ending on New Year's Eve, up 21% from 2009 levels. Porsche Cars Canada's previous record year was 2007 when 1987 vehicles were sold. The figures below all relate to 2010 calendar year sales in Canada unless otherwise noted.

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239.5 - percentage year-over-year increase in Porsche Panamera sales, although Porsche didn't have a full year of selling the Panamera in 2009 so growing the previous year's 114 sales wasn't a challenge.

16.9 - percentage year-over-year increase in Porsche Cayenne sales, thanks in no small part to the introduction of a better-looking second-generation Cayenne partway through 2010.

6.1 - percentage year-over-year increase in Porsche 911 sales, with growth coming from high-end models like the 911 GT3 RS.

22.7 - percentage year-over-year decrease in Porsche Cayman sales as two special editions disappeared and sales of the base Cayman and Cayman S fell 13.8% and 20.7% respectively.

20.2 - percentage year-over-year decrease in Porsche Boxster sales despite an additional 35 sales coming from the gorgeous Boxster Spyder.

21.1 - portion of overall Porsche Boxster sales, measured in percent, made up by the Porsche Boxster Spyder.

58 - portion of overall Porsche Cayman sales, measured in percent, made up by the Porsche Cayman S.

2.3 - portion of overall Porsche Cayenne sales, measured in percent, made up by the Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid.

21.4 - portion of overall Porsche Panamera sales, measured in percent, made up by the Porsche Panamera Turbo.

4.4 - portion of overall Porsche 911 sales, measured in percent, made up by the basic Porsche 911 Carrera.

74.2 - percentage of overall Porsche Cars Canada sales not attributed to its most famous model, the 911.

84.6 - percentage of overall Porsche Cars Canada sales not attributed to its most famous model in December 2010.

173 - total Porsche 911 Cabriolet models sold in 2010, with the biggest convertible seller being the 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet. 23 Targas were also sold in 2010.

118 - total Porsche Cayenne Turbo sales in 2010, 10 of which were of the Turbo S variety.

7 - total sales of the most basic Porsche Panamera, a car with an $86,600 pricetag.

279,500 - Canadian dollar MSRP of the 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS, one of which was sold in Canada in 2010. Not a single non-RS 911 GT2 was sold in 2010.

308 - total 911s sold in Canada in 2010 which were fitted with all-wheel drive.

54,900 - Canadian dollar MSRP of the least-expensive Porsche available, the basic 2011 Porsche Boxster, a vehicle which made up 3.5% of all Porsche Cars Canada sales in 2010.

0.39 - percentage of overall Porsche Cars Canada sales garnered by the Porsche Cayenne Transsbyeria in 2010.

330 - total sales of Porsche's best-selling specific model in 2010, the Porsche Cayenne S.

248 - total sales in Porsche Cars Canada's best month of 2010, July.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net

Canada Auto Sales By Brand - 2010 Year End

Porsche 911 Sales Data In Canada - November 2010

2011's The Good 12 Part 10 - Porsche Boxster Spyder
2011's The Good 12 Part 11 - Porsche Cayenne

The 15 Worst-Selling Vehicles In Canada In 2010

In the slightly rejigged and not-so-immortal words from GoodCarBadCar.net's list of America's 15 Worst-Selling Cars, "For the sake of humour and remembrance - and because these vehicles haven't been discussed on GoodCarBadCar.net for ages - the 15 Worst-Selling Cars In Canada in 2010 include dead or mostly dead vehicles. They are either out of production, soon to be out of production, or not a part of the Canadian new vehicle market any longer." 

Pontiac sales in Canada didn't completely disappear in 2010. In fact, sales fell "just" 86.3% to 6801, 15 of which came in December. Saturn's situation was a bit worse as total 2010 sales fell 99.9% from 2009 to 11, none of which came from the final month of the year. Hummer's sales figures were abysmal in 2009 and couldn't get much worse. Falling 66%, Hummer's total dropped to 168 and GoodCarBadCar.net skipped over the H2's two sales in this table because Worst Seller lists are intended to skip over true luxury items.  That said, the Honda S2000 was a $50K+ vehicle in Canada.

Anyway, this list is no means an official rundown of anything meaningful, but it does give us an opportunity to see how the 2011 Dodge Durango's percentage change numbers will be wonderfully flattering.

Rank	Car	2010	% Drop
#1	Pontiac G8	1	-93.8
#2	Saturn Outlook	1	-99.9
#3	Saturn Astra	2	-99.9
#4	Hyundai Tiburon	2	-99.8
#5	Hyundai Azera	3	-98.3
#6	Dodge Durango	6	-93.8
#7	Chevrolet TrailBlazer	7	-97.2
#8	Ford Taurus X	8	-99.1
#9	Saturn Vue	8	-99.7
#10	GMC Envoy	13	-94.2
#11	Chrysler Aspen	15	-96.4
#12	Pontiac Torrent	16	-99.7
#13	Nissan Quest	20	-95
#14	Honda S2000	21	-57
#15	Chevrolet Uplander	30	-99.7

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 10 Worst-Selling Cars In Canada - 2011 Year End
The 10 Worst-Selling Cars In Canada - March 2010
Top 15 Worst-Selling Vehicles In America - 2010 Year End
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In Canada - 2010 Year End

Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In Canada - 2010 Year End

For a list such as this to be meaningful, certain qualifications must be installed beforehand. "Luxury vehicle" can mean just about anything in marketing literature, but for an aware readership, GoodCarBadCar.net has slightly higher standards than simply any car available with leather-lined seats. Premium badges, therefore, are mandatory.... with a handful of exceptions. Because of the Chevrolet Corvette's premium pricing, it could be considered a luxury vehicle. (Before you check, it's not among Canada's 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles.) 

Can the opposite be true? Is a rebadged, up-contented Honda Civic like the Acura CSX, a $24,290 car, really a luxury vehicle? It's hard to say. So, for those who disagree with its inclusion as Canada's 25th best-selling luxury vehicle, or for those who don't like the Hyundai Genesis's presence here, there are a couple of stand-ins you should be aware of. The taxi squad, as it'll be called, includes the Audi A3 (1322 sales in 2010, up 6.2%), Volvo XC90 (1194, down 18%), Volvo's XC70/V70 pair (1220, down 14.5%), and the Audi Q7 (1247, up 8.8%). How 'bout we add the Cadillac Escalade to the rundown (1181, up 47.4%) and the Land Rover Range Rover Sport (1168, up 39.5%) as honourable mentions? That way, consumers who refuse to consider the Mercedes-Benz B-Class a luxury vehicle can see which cars would take its place.

Speaking of the Hyundai Genesis, Hyundai Canada says 3113 of its overall Genesis sales tally can be attributed to the Genesis Coupe, leaving just 811 of the truly luxurious Genesis sedans. Strange bed-brothers: BMW Canada lists the 323i's base price at $37,650; the Hyundai Genesis 3.8 is priced from $38,999. Could the C-Class Benz be numero uno? There's a coupe coming, but the C-Class goes to bat with just one bodystyle - BMW's 3-Series has four. Is bigger better? Not quite, 13 of the country's 30 most popular luxury vehicles are SUV/crossover/CUVs. Of the 30 vehicles listed below, 14 are German-derived. One is Korean, one is Swedish, four are American, the other ten are Japanese.

Rank	Luxury Vehicle	2010	2009
#1	BMW 3-Series	14,009	12,610
#2	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	8090	7317
#3	Lexus RX	7383	8828
#4	Acura MDX	5994	5994
#5	Mercedes-Benz GLK	5852	5012
#6	Audi A4	5211	4224
#7	Lincoln MKX	4458	2471
#8	Infiniti G	4408	3998
#9	BMW X5	4012	3410
#10	Hyundai Genesis	3924	3438
#11	Mercedes-Benz E & CLS-Class	3914	2819
#12	Mercedes-Benz M-Class	3871	3146
#13	Acura RDX	3163	2869
#14	Audi Q5	3060	1942
#15	Mercedes-Benz B-Class	2994	2865
#16	Cadillac CTS	2974	2488
#17	Cadillac SRX	2918	990
#18	Acura TL	2895	3577
#19	BMW X3	2840	2236
#20	Lexus ES	2688	2999
#21	BMW 5-Series	2382	1619
#22	Audi A5	2309	1520
#23	Acura TSX	2297	2020
#24	Lexus IS	2233	2617
#25	Acura CSX	2064	2526
#26	Infiniti EX	1925	1785
#27	BMW 1-Series	1764	2533
#28	Volvo XC60	1540	1211
#29	Lincoln MKZ	1493	1508
#30	Mercedes-Benz G & GL-Class	1437	1143

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In Canada - 2011 Year End
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In Canada - January 2011
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In Canada - 2010 Year End
Top 20 Best-Selling SUVs In Canada - 2010 Year End
Canada New Vehicle Market Share By Brand - 2010 Year End
Top 30 Best-Selling Luxury Vehicles In America - 2010 Year End

Small Luxury SUV Sales And Midsize Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - 2010 Year End

24,881 German luxury sport-utility vehicles were sold in Canada in 2010. That's up from 20,660 in 2009, a 20% bump that'd mean a whole lot more if not for the fact that just five years ago, only 9734 German luxury SUVs were sold in Canada. In other words, from 2005 to 2010, German luxury SUV sales increased 156% in Canada, a percentage change which is unlikely to repeat itself by 2015. These numbers include the Volkswagen Touareg, despite its proletarian badge, and the Mercedes-Benz G and GL-Class SUVs from the large luxury SUV segment not shown in the Graphs below.

It sounds strange to say as gas prices rise and jobless rates remain high that, if the U.S. auto industry wishes to compete in the premium category, they need to sell more.... Ess-You-Vees? Cadillac and Lincoln together only sold 10,023 sport-utes and crossovers in 2010, more than double 2009 levels; not a whole lot better than double 2005 levels. Granted, there are only two "domestic" brands competing compared with what feels like countless German companies: four-rings, propellers, three-pointed stars and the like.

There are specific battles being waged, whether automakers' Canadian outposts admit to acknowledging them or not, which form interesting sub-plots in the small and midsize luxury SUV segments. The Acura RDX smoked its Japanese compatriot, the Infiniti EX, by 1238 sales in 2010. BMW's X5 narrowly saw off the Mercedes-Benz M-Class despite an impressive December at Mercedes which accounted for more than 12.5% of the M-Class's yearly total. Though not directly price comparable, the Acura ZDX and BMW X6 are birds of a feather: BMW topped Acura after a late incentive-driven ZDX challenge. The Audi Q5 only just beat out the BMW X3, a feat which will be more difficult in 2011 when an accomplished new X3 makes the outgoing X3 look like... well, an old X3. Finally, Indian-owned Land Rover posted pleasant overall gains in 2010, a story which would perhaps have gone unwritten had the Range Rover Sport not succeeded with a 39.5% increase and a victory over Porsche's Cayenne.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Small Luxury SUV & Midsize Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - December & 2011 Year End
Small Luxury & Midsize Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - January 2011
Small Luxury & Midsize Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - December 2010
Top 20 Best-Selling SUVs In Canada - 2010 Year End
Large Luxury SUV Sales In Canada - 2010 Year End
2011's The Bad 8 Part 1 - Acura ZDX

Midsize SUV Sales And Large SUV Sales In Canada - 2010 Year End

It's not just that the Ford Edge could beat the total efforts of three large, impressive, successful GM utility vehicles; nor is it the fact that Toyota and Honda and Nissan were beaten, too. No, what's most consequential is the turn Ford took, particularly once the 2011 Edge came on stream: sales were up 41.3% 2010. Also, Ford didn't barely beat General Motors, and the victory over Japanese mainstays like the Highlander, Pilot, and Murano was a good ol' fashioned whipping.

Rather than focus on the good news at Ford, why not have a look at the unsuccessful entrants in the midsize SUV category? It wasn't as though Subaru's Tribeca was ever chugging along nicely, but the latest Outback's success didn't spell well for Subaru's biggest vehicle. Tribeca sales fell 8.8% in 2010, a year in which the market grew 6.6%. For every Tribeca sold in Canada in 2010, Subaru sold 12 Outbacks and Ford sold nearly 32 Edges. How 'bout the Mitsubishi Endeavor? One would've thought sales of the Endeavor were about as low as could be in 2009. Only 545 were sold in Canada last year, after all. Yet sales dipped 30% even as Mitsubishi maintained a mostly level overall sales total.

Big SUVs present a different story from 2010. Of the eight listed in the Graph below, only one - the Kia Borrego - failed to improve on 2009's sales levels. Toyota Sequoia sales were up 14%. Nissan Armada sales were up 111%. Ford Expedition sales rose 5%. GM's foursome was up 50.5%. Even so, jumbo SUVs remain a niche market in Canada. Not a single one of the eight listed posted a figure which would find them among the ten best-selling midsize SUVs.

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Midsize SUV Sales In Canada - December & 2011 Year End
Large SUV Sales In Canada - December & 2011 Year End
Small, Midsize & Large SUV Sales In Canada - January 2011
Midsize & Large SUV Sales In Canada - December 2010
Top 20 Best-Selling SUVs In Canada - 2010 Year End
Small SUV Sales In Canada - 2010 Year End
Canadian New Vehicle Market Share By Brand - 2010 Year End