Ute-led recovery leads US car sales
BY BARRY PARK | 3rd Apr 2013
The 6.3 per cent first-quarter jump in sales was led largely by the light truck segment, with US-based car-makers including Ford, Chrysler and General Motors picking up the most buyers’ attention.
More than 1.4 million light vehicles were sold in the US in March, bringing the total for the first three months of the year up to more than 3.6 million, up from almost 3.5 million for the same period last year.
While the numbers look good, only two of the big three US car-makers grew market share in March. Chrysler did the best, lifting its sales by 9.7 per cent compared with February, while Ford was able to bump its sales by 7.2 per cent over the previous month.
GM, however, lost ground, sliding 2.5 per cent despite pegging the most sales for the month.
Asian car-makers at the cheaper end of the market outstripped the growth of the US-based companies.
Nissan soared almost 23 per cent compared with the previous month as its Altima small car rose to the ranks of the third best-selling passenger car model.
Honda, meanwhile, jumped 12 per cent as its Accord mid-size car took second place on the sales charts.
In contrast, the US’s best-selling car, the Toyota Camry, only helped push Toyota to a 9.7 per cent gain.
Other big sellers for the month included the Ford Fusion (sold here as the Mondeo), Toyota corolla, Honda Civic, Ford Focus, Chervrolet Cruze, Hyundai Elantra and the Chevrolet Malibu.
At the luxury end of the market, BMW took a clear sales lead over market rival Mercedes-Benz, which saw sales stagnate compared with the previous month’s result.
Even Porsche saw sales jump by more than 10 per cent.
Soft-roaders also performed well, with Honda’s much improved CR-V and Toyota’s all-new RAV4 ranking highly in the light-truck segment.
GM was the biggest selling brand for the month, followed by Ford, Toyota and Chrysler.
