Fleet Sales as a Percentage of Total Sales 2010

*estimated values

For me, I wonder if  the final straw in declaring the market distaste for fleet sales was when General Motors in 2008 with Chevrolet was in a tight battle with Toyota to regain the number one selling brand title in the United States.  Chevrolet tried their hardest to win the crown, but an educated guess tells us that they were not selling those final cars to consumers. These days, although there is slightly more transparency in the fleet market, the battle cry for all of the “movers and shakers� in the U.S. is “stay in business, fleet cars� as all are fleeting in surprising numbers.

By far the most dependent is the Chrysler Group. Chrysler has doubled their fleet volume to over 240,000 vehicles this year compared with 2009. With undesirable cars like the Sebring, Avenger, Charger, Caravan, practically everything except Jeep and Ram. The only way they are really selling these cars – the operative word should really be car – is by sending them off to the barcode prison known as the daily rental fleets. Save the Charger, which is quite the popular police cruiser, almost every non-SUV and truck model in the Pentastar’s lineup is low hanging fruit for your favorite rental agency.

At first glance, Ford’s fleet percentage may be startling as well, but the reality is, they have strong connections and outstanding track records with government agencies, Ford sells more of their fleet vehicles to Uncle Sam and commercial venues, which is far less damaging to resale value. Also, brightening these numbers is the added profit of non daily rental sales and the 19% increase in retail sales Ford has achieved so far this year.

When you think General Motors and fleet, what comes to mind are some tired models like the Impala, Cobalt, and Aveo stocking your nearest Enterprise. GM has sold around 400,000 vehicles to fleets so far this year, but since shedding Pontiac, Saturn, and Saab, GM says their retail sales for the remaining brands has increased 18%. At the same time however, fleeting on those same four brands has increased 50% since last year.

The Asian automakers fair slightly better in their fleeting percentages. With Hyundai in the lead and Nissan not far behind, it is apparent that some of their long-in-the-tooth models may be attractive to daily rental agencies as well.

Overall, all automakers feel that their fleet numbers are going to be decreasing for the second half of 2010, especially with the new models going on sale here soon.  Other indications of a reduction in fleet sales are with the lack of purchasing in 2009 by daily rental fleets, maybe the massive purchasing here in 2010 is over with. Ford expects a final 2010 number to be close to 30% and GM expects their final 2010 number to be 25%, which is close to their 2009 level.

One thing is for certain; don’t expect this data to slowly fade away when times get better. Both Ford and GM have now started to detail basic fleet information in their monthly sales reports. Also, AutoNation, the nation’s largest dealership group is also detailing their sales reports every month.

Source: Automotive News

Filed under: Industry News