March proved to be a great month for the U.S. automotive industry. Automakers, including the Detroit Three, reported strong year-over-year sales growths and even stronger month-to-month increases for the highest monthly total since August 2007.
DETROIT- March proved to be a great month for the U.S. automotive industry.
Automakers, including the Detroit Three, reported strong year-over-year sales growths and even stronger month-to-month increases for the best monthly sales total since August 2007.
The overall industry came in at about 1.45 million vehicles sold, a 22 percent growth from February and a 3 percent uptick from March 2012 – the strongest month of last year.
“If you look at where we are today, it was a good test to the strength of the industry,” said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds.com senior editor. “It shows that people are still buying cars out there.”
Caldwell said over the last decade March has averaged to be the second-strongest month of vehicle sales, only trailing May.
Automotive industry analysts and experts continue to say pent-up demand, low interest rates, cheap credit, new products and leasing are all driving consumers into dealerships.
Through the first quarter of 2013, U.S. auto industry sales were near 3.7 million units, a 6 percent increase from the same time last year.
Two segments that really helped propel sales last month were mid-size sedans and pickup trucks. The two segments combined for about 30 percent of all sales, including pickup trucks coming in at about 12 percent, or 174,000 units.
“Full-size pickups continue to outpace the industry,” said Ford sales analyst Erich Merkle during a conference call Tuesday. "This represents a departure from what we’ve been seeing since the recession.”
The Detroit Three experienced particularly high pickup truck sales in March that lead to combined overall sales of 653,716 cars and trucks last month.
Ford F-Series sales increased 16 percent to 67,513 pickups in March. This was F-Series 20th straight month of monthly sales increases and represented F-Series’ best March and first quarter sales performance since 2007.
Ram Truck brand’s 24 percent increase was the largest sales gain of any Chrysler brand in March. Sales of the Ram pickup truck were up 25 percent in March, its best sales ever. Both the light-duty Ram and heavy-duty Ram pickups were substantially refreshed for the 2013 model year.
GM’s leading trucks – the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra – both experienced double-digit gains during the first quarter of the year, as dealers attempt to make room for the 2014 models. Silverado sales are up 22 percent compared to the first three months last year, including an 8.4 percent increase in March. Sierra sales are up nearly 18 percent, but were primarily level last month.
“We definitely expected to see a strong market there and the automakers certainly delivered,” said Alec Gutierrez, Kelley Blue Book senior market analyst of automotive insights.
Analysts expect the release on GM’s new full-size pickups this spring and the recovering housing market should keep the segment around 12 percent of the industry, if not more.
Overall last month, the Detroit automakers all increased sales at least 5 percent over a strong March 2012. GM and Ford both experienced sales growths of 6 percent and Chrysler marked its 36th-consecutive month of year-over-year gains with sales up 5 percent.
Experts mostly expect total industry sales for the year to come in between 15.3-15.5 million units, which would be about 1 million more than last year but still below pre-recession levels.
“Through the first quarter, it looks like were on pace to hit that,” said Gutierrez, adding sales growth is expected to remain steady throughout the year.
KBB anticipates sales of about 15.3 million units in 2013 compared to Edmunds.com, which recently raised its full-year U.S. sales forecast from 15 million to 15.5 million.
Here’s a quick look at how other automakers performed, according to Autodata Corp.:
- Nissan, which had its Altima top the Camry for best mid-size sedan sales, experienced a 1 percent growth to 137,726 vehicles sold.
- Volkswagen's sales were up 3 percent.
- Toyota’s sales remained steady, up 1 percent to 205,342 cars and trucks sold.
- Honda’s sales were up 7 percent to 136,038 vehicles sold.
- Hyundai saw sales drop 2 percent to about 68,300 vehicles sold.
- Kia experienced a nearly 15 percent sales decrease to less than 15,000 vehicles sold.