The GMC Sierra rejoins the Top 20 for June

June typically is a slow month in automotive sales as indicated by the lower total sales numbers from May. Most of the top 20 did better in June this year than last year, especially GM vehicles since GM was entering bankruptcy in June of 2009. Like last month, Ford and Chevrolet held down half of the top 20. Four of the bottom five from last month have moved out including the Chevrolet Cobalt, Toyota Prius, Ford Edge, and the Chrysler Town & Country. New vehicles in the top 20 this month include the Hyundai Elantra, Toyota RAV4, GMC Sierra, and Chevrolet Traverse.

Looking at the numbers, it becomes noticeable that trucks and SUVs benefited the most from the stable gas prices and the slowly improving economy in June. Every truck or SUV except the Ford Escape posted double digit year-over-year sales gains in June and 3 of the new top 20 are trucks or SUVs replacing more fuel efficent cars like hybrid, compact, or minivan styles.

The other big mover’s in June’s top 20 include the Honda CR-V up 3 spots and the Dodge Ram and Chevy Malibu up 2. Moving down four slots is the Chevrolet Impala and the Nissan Altima moves down 3 spots.

Data Source: www.motorintelligence.com via The Wall Street Journal

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Germany is still in its post cash-for-clunkers shock and car buying still isn’t back to normal yet. Compared to May 2009, 35.1% less cars were sold – let’s have a look at the data to see who lost the most sales.

Before we start looking at the Top 7, let’s have a look at something interesting that happened a bit further down the list. Chrysler, which will be gone from Europe in less than a year, managed to increase their sales by nearly 25% to a still pathetic 699 cars for the month.

While the biggest loser in Germany was PSA Peugeot-Citroën, Toyota (the 10^th largest German carmaker) managed to lose an equally impressive 57.3% of their sales, which means they are now down to 5,705 cars for May, 2010.

Finally, would you believe that a 73.3% sales gain is possible these days? Korean SsangYong (#21) did it by increasing their sales from 15 in May, 2009, to an amazing 26 units in May, 2010. That’s equal to about half of Aston Martin’s sales: Whoa!

Read more about the top 7 makers below the bump:

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April showers bring May flowers, at least for some automakers this month. Mercedes-Benz, Mazda, and Subaru bloomed with double digit sales increases. However, Suzuki planted a bad seed since all it is seeing are losses, posting a double digit decrease for May. Other automakers only posted small gains and losses for the month. Here’s a look and some observations of the tier-2, German, and irrelevant auto makers.

Volkswagen

Jetta SportWagon had its best month with 2,511 finding a new home. 86% (about 2,159) of the wagons had a TDI Engine.

The Golf is climbing up as well, posting a 134% increase from the past year.

Mazda

Mazda3 still holds the best seller title for the brand with a 53.8% increase in sales from May of last year.

The MX-5 is in a slump with a 24.6% decrease in sales from the past year.

Subaru

The Outback posted the biggest gain for Subaru with a 124% sales increase from last year.

Mercedes-Benz

E-Class is still the big seller for the three pointed star. 5,476 coupes and sedans found an owner.

The G-Class was sold to 99 new owners, an increase of 43.5% from last May.

BMW

The Z4 posted the biggest gains for BMW this month with a 29% sales increase.

Porsche

The hunchback of Stuttgart, a.k.a. the Panamara continues to be Porsche’s best seller with 605 leaving dealer lots.

Surprise for May; The Boxster selling 349 units. A jump of 52% from last year.

Audi

The big winner for Audi this month; the new A5/S5. A 145% increase from the previous May.

Diesels are continuing their strong growth in Audi’s lineup.  For the month the may 33% of Q7 and 48% of A3 sales were optioned with a diesel.

Mitsubishi

Lancer Sportback had its second best month of sales with 256 units which begs one to wonder what its best sales month looked like.

Suzuki

Kizashi sold 474 units, Kashi sold the same amount of boxes of cereal within 10 – 20 minutes.

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May was another good month for the ‘Movers and Shakers’ of the auto industry. Overall, the industry sold a million-plus units, something that hasn’t been achieved since March, 2010.

May sales came in at 1,102,899, up 120,768 vehicles from April, and up 19.1% from May, 2009. According to Edmunds, the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate (SAAR) for the industry now stands at 11.6 million vehicles. That’s up from the 11.2 million SAAR in April, but still not at equal to the11.8 million estimate we got in March.

According to J.D. Power and Associates, 80.9% of vehicles sold in April were retail sales compared to 19.1% fleet sales. Fleet mix decreased slightly for May, by a little over 1% of total sales. Industry mix favored car sales again, though a surge in pickups skewed light-truck’s showing. In May, fleet mix stood at 51.4% car vs. 48.6% light-truck. The biggest vehicle segments for the month were midsized cars (286,190), crossovers (216,826), compact cars (191,764) and pickup trucks (150,867).

May’s sales performance has to do with the continuation of aggressive incentive spending by Chrysler, Honda and Ford. According to TrueCar, industry average incentive spending was estimated at about $2,915 per vehicle in May, which is an increase of $115 from April and March. Incentive spending is up 1.7% from last year, with a total of $3 billion spent to move the metal, according to Truecar.

May sales would have came in below industry expectations if it were not for Memorial weekend, which spiked sales despite the fact that incentives on the hood didn’t change that much. The Detroit 3 also pushed a larger portion of fleet than expected.

All important indicators point to further improvements in the auto industry as the economy continues to stabilize. According the Federal Reserve, there was ‘modest’ growth in many districts in May.  While unemployment remains at a very high 9.7%, the economy did add 431,000 jobs in May, the most since March 200. Still, it’s important to note that most of those jobs (411,000 of them) were temporary Census jobs. Those folks are hardly going to go out and buy a new car.

“Realâ€� discretionary retail spending also increased for the first time since March, 2010. According to Ford’s senior U.S. economist, “consumer credit still remains constrained.” If lending can open up a bit more we could still exceed predicted SAAR rates of 11.5-12 million units for the year.

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Summer hasn’t entirely begun in Canada, with some parts still out in the cold, but that hasn’t stopped Canadians, and their automakers from being in a sunny mood in the month of May.  As Canada continues to lead the G7 in economic recovery, overall sales have been on the up, with 154,927 new vehicles hitting the road for the month.

Passenger vehicle sales totaled 74,572, representing a decline of 10% over last year. Trucks picked up the slack, with an increase of 13.4%, showing that fuel price scares, and uncertainty have worn off on the population.

Also worth noting is that the Big Three sold 72,966 units in comparison to 81,961 from import nameplates. Those Domestic sales were an 8.9% increase over last year, as Canadians are taking another look at their home-team offerings, and Toyota still reels from recall woes.

Perhaps as another barometer of economic success, Mercedes sold over three thousand vehicles in May, the first time ever since the company started operation in the country. The real test will come in the remaining summer months, with the central bank having raised the interest rates; this may put a halt to some of the great numbers that automakers have seen over the past few months. Canada’s Loonie has also been been flying a little lower, which may also drag down sales slightly in the coming summer.

After hovering around 15.7% for the past few months, Ford managed to crack 16% share in May, continuing the Blue Oval’s convincing lead as the number one automaker in Canada. Sales of the Taurus, Fusion, and CUV’s continue to give Ford the ‘Edge’ against the competition, but it’s their trucks that continue to bulk up the numbers.

Total Vehicles Sold:  26,122, an increase of 19.4%

Total Cars Sold:  6,216

Total Trucks Sold: 19,906

Lincoln’s sales increased overall by 41% over the previous year. The Navigator’s sales climbed 107%, the MKX by 74%.

Ford Taurus sales soared by 242% over last year, with Fusion continuing its modest gains, with 14%.

The Edge’s sales were up 65%, the Escape up 10%.

F-Series trucks were up by 42%, the 2011 Super Duty hauling in plenty of new customers.

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