Fuel-efficient cars feed US market sales

AS NEW-VEHICLE registrations softened in Australia, the United States market defied stock shortages and rising fuel prices to post an 18 per cent increase in April to 1.16 million sales, maintaining world’s second-biggest motor market’s run towards just over 13 million units for this year.

At this rate, the American auto market will easily exceed last year’s 11.59 million total, with sales for the first four months now at 4.29 million – up 20 per cent compared to the same point last year.

While Toyota posted only a 1.3 per cent increase in sales overall (to 159,540 units) last month across its three brands – Toyota (up 2.1 per cent with 136,254 unit), Lexus (down 4.3 per cent on 17,576 units) and Scion (up 53.7 per cent with 5710) – the other big players in the US market, namely General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, recorded significant gains.

The big Japanese brand, which looks set to lose its global number-one position to GM this year, is facing further softening sales over 2010 in the months ahead as production cuts in Japan and the US stemming from the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami eat into vehicle supplies.

That said, Toyota Motor Sales USA general manager Bob Carter claimed to be “encouraged by reports of production progress”.

From top: Ford F-150, Honda Accord, Chevrolet Silverado, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Ford Explorer.

GM, on the other hand, reported a 27 per cent increase in the US last month with 232,538 sales, highlighting solid gains by its fuel-efficient passenger cars and SUVs with a record month for the Chevrolet Cruze – the small car’s 25,160 sales were up 180 per cent on the Cobalt it replaced and enough to place it sixth overall in the US market – as well as the Chevy Equinox (17,067, up 42.4 per cent) and GMC Terrain compact crossovers (7205, up 63.6 per cent).

The big Chevrolet Silverado pick-up truck was The General’s biggest seller on 29,342, but this was down one per cent and not enough to beat Ford’s F Series (45,435), Toyota’s Camry (30,443) or Honda’s Accord (30,310) at the top of the market.

Indeed, GM’s large pick-ups overall rose just two per cent and large SUVs such as the Suburban and Tahoe fell 29.0 and 13.9 per cent respectively – and as petrol prices in the US averaged around $4 a gallon.

On the flipside, the Australian-engineered Camaro continued its strong run with 10,852 deliveries to customers, up 18.6 per cent and again outselling the Ford Mustang (8180, up 59 per cent).

In total, GM’s slimmed-down range of four brands all recorded sizeable gains – Buick (up 51 per cent), Cadillac (16 per cent), GMC (30 per cent) and Chevrolet (26 per cent).

GM’s US sales operations vice-president Don Johnson said rising fuel prices had led many to rethink their vehicle choice.

“Because of the investments we’ve made in fuel efficiency and global product architectures, the company is well positioned to meet these needs,” he said.

After outselling GM in March, Ford was back in second place for April, posting 189,284 sales for the month – up 13 per cent compared to April 2010, with cars up 26 per cent and SUVs and trucks each up by 11 per cent.

Ford brand sales rose 24 per cent, with passenger cars and small SUVs also having a strong influence on the outcome – Fiesta (9147) broke through the 9000 barrier for the second month in a row, Focus (17,265) continued its excellent run to be up 22 per cent, and Fusion and Escape both set new records for the month with more than 21,000 sales each.

The other key vehicle for Ford was its all-new Explorer SUV, which racked up 12,593 sales to mark a 138 per cent improvement over last year.

Drawing much the same conclusions as his counterpart at GM, Ford’s vice-president of US marketing, sales and service Ken Czubay said: “With gasoline prices eclipsing $3.90 a gallon, consumers are placing an even higher priority on fuel efficiency in every size and kind of vehicle.

“Ford’s plan to lead in fuel efficiency is saving our customers money at the pump and helping us to profitably grow our business.”

Chrysler Group also reported another strong month with 117,225 sales, up 22 per cent overall across its various brands for its best April result since 2008.

Jeep and its new Grand Cherokee continued to drive sales – the off-road brand was up 65 per cent with 32,384 sales overall, while Grand Cherokee turned in 9802 units, up 189 per cent to be the group’s second-best seller.

Chrysler brand sales were down 9.0 per cent with 20,379 units, but Dodge/Ram was up 18 per cent with 63,580 sales – the big-selling Ram pick-up was again a prime mover, up 29 per cent with 17,680 sales.

While Toyota’s performance was the least impressive of the US majors, its Japanese rivals Honda and Nissan also turned in sales increases below the 18 per cent industry average.

Honda was up 10 per cent with 124,799 units (including Acura), while Nissan was another to offset falling truck demand with passenger car increases to post a 12 per cent rise with 71,526 units (including Infiniti).

The Hyundai Group, on the other hand, rose 47 per cent for the month with 108,828 sales overall. The Hyundai brand rose 40 per cent (to 61,754) and Kia was up 57 per cent (to 47,074).