Numbers don’t tell the whole story of August 2015 U.S. car and light truck sales. Labor Day weekend is perhaps the biggest weekend of the year, as dealerships try to clear their lots of the model year 2015s to make room for 2016s. But the three-day holiday fell in late August last year. Dealerships, and thus the automakers, won’t get that holiday bump until September 4-7, so look for much better increases when this month’s sales are reported October 1.
Nevertheless, August 2015 industry sales fell just 0.5 percent, to 1.58 million, Bloomberg reports. That translates to a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of 17.8 million. General Motors has boosted its projection by 300,000 units for the year to 17.3 million for the industry.
Ford Motor Company, which says it’s still trying to meet dealership demand for its new aluminum-bodied F-150, managed a slight sales increase last month, as did Fiat Chrysler, while GM, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan posted slight declines.
The ups and downs of stock markets around the world, from China to the New York Exchange, appeared to have no effect on luxury car sales. Mercedes-Benz outpaced all of Daimler in the U.S. with a 4.8 percent sales rise, and Lexus was up 2.2 percent largely on the strength of its new NX compact crossover, while all of Toyota Motor Sales fell 8.8 percent. BMW’s 2 percent increase matched the BMW Group’s increase, which includes Mini. Its 3 and 4 Series sold more than 13,000 in August, even as the new Mercedes C-Class came on strong. Acura’s 1.1-percent drop was better than American Honda overall, and the TLX sedan is catching the brand’s crossover in sales. Lincoln slightly outpaced parent Ford, thanks to decent sales of the MKC, but Cadillac fell harder than GM.
Is Merrill Lynch on to something predicting 20 million in calendar year 2018? I don’t think so, though I’m not going to throw cold water on the auto industry’s euphoria.
And so, to the numbers …
1. General Motors: 270,480, off 0.7 percent.
* Chevrolet was -1.5 percent to 183,098, and Cadillac was -5.5 percent to 15,738, while Buick rose 3.5 percent to 22,281, and GMC rose 3.5 percent, to 49,363.
* Chevy Equinox was +17.9 percent to 25,211 but not enough to offset Cruze, which was -37.4 percent to 14,661, as GM gets set to launch an all-new model of the compact sedan. Similarly, Chevy Volt was -45 percent to 1,380.
* Although the Chevy Malibu is about to be replaced, sales were +7.4 percent to 17,553. Impala was +0.8 percent to 9,880.
* Enclave and Encore remain Buick’s sales champs, with the big CUV +27.4 percent to 7,389 and the small CUV +29.2 percent to 6,286.
* Buick Regal was -23.2 percent to 1,450, and Verano was -48.4 percent, to 2,648.
* Chevy Silverado was +11.7 percent to 54,977, and GMC Sierra was +7.0 percent to 21,241, for a combined count of 76,218.
* Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon sold a combined 9,537; GM says its new midsize truck is in short supply.
* Cadillac SRX up 51.9 percent to 6,903 and Escalade ESV up 4.2 percent to 1,310 were the luxury brand’s only gainers. ATS was -12.7 percent to 2,449, and CTS was -33.3 percent to 1,730.
2. Ford Motor Company: 234,237, up 5.4 percent.
* Mustang led the Ponycar Wars, +70.1 percent to 9,997, with Chevy Camaro -23.3 percent to 6,236 and Dodge Challenger +25 percent to 5,235.
* Fusion sales fell 4 percent to 28,270, while Explorer sales were up 22 percent,to 21,658. Escape was -0.4 percent to 28,870.
* F-Series was +4.7 percent to 71,332.
* Transit tops 10,000 at 10,263, +833.8 percent.
* Transit also tops Lincoln, which was +6 percent to 8,636.
* Lincoln MKC was +37 percent to 2,411, and Navigator was +79.3 percent to 1,054. MKZ was -9.5 percent to 2,571.
3. Toyota Motor Sales: 224,381, off 8.8 percent.
* Camry fell 14.6 percent to a still-healthy 37,592, while Corolla was -4.1 percent to 31,726.
* RAV4 was -14.3 percent to 30,534, and Highlander was +16.1 percent to 13,333.
* Tacoma was +13.2 percent to 16,230, while Tundra was -15 percent to 10,057.
* Lexus was +2.1 percent to 33,487, while Scion was -37 percent to 3,895.
* Lexus’ bestseller, RX, fell 18.8 percent to 9,620, while the new NX came in at 4,448.
*Lexus ES was -5.3 percent to 7,286, and IS was -14.6 percent to 4,537.
4. Chrysler LLC: 201,672, up 2 percent.
* Jeep remains red-hot, with Cherokee +3 percent to 18,763; Wrangler +1 percent to 18,160; Grand Cherokee -8 percent to 17,144; and Patriot +21 percent to 11,058.
* Jeep Patriot outsold all of Lincoln; Grand Cherokee outsold all of Cadillac; and Wrangler plus Cherokee outsold all of Volkswagen by more than 4,500 units.
* Ram pickup was +4 percent to 45,310.
* Chrysler 200 was +30 percent to 14,032. Dodge Dart was -27 percent to 6,154.
* Chrysler 200 leads Chevy Malibu in year-to-date sales; 135,709 to 130,095.
* Dodge Charger was -18 percent to 6,734, and Chrysler 300 was -15 percent to 4,145.
* Fiat was up 1 percent to 3,388, with 1,029 500Xes sold. Alfa Romeo sold 75 4Cs.
5. American Honda, 155,491, off 6.9 percent.
* CR-V’s 34,771 sold is a record for the model, up 6 percent.
* Accord dropped 16.8 percent to 40,931, beating Toyota Camry.
* Civic fell 2.3 percent to 32,031 and still ahead of Corolla.
* HR-V was off to a strong start with 4,567 sold.
* Acura was -1.1 percent to 15,313, with MDX leading, -26.9 percent to 4,747.
* RDX, at 4,364, +9.5 percent, edged out TLX at 4,353, +90.4 percent.
6. Nissan Group: 133,351, off 0.8 percent.
* Rogue was +29.2 percent to 27,665, though Altima remained the bestseller, +0.5 percent, to 32,327. Sentra was off 8.8 percent to 15,662 and Pathfinder fell 10.7 percent to 7,054.
* Juke sales remained steady, at 2,360, +0.3 percent (seven units).
* There will be no new Xterra, so get one while you can: -9.7 percent to 1,132.
* Infiniti was +16.1 percent to 10,635. QX60 led at 3,995, up 53.7 percent, while Q50 was up 44.6 percent to 3,839.
* QX80 was up 14.4 percent to 1,086, while the remaining Infinitis each sold in the hundreds.
7. Hyundai: 72,012, up 3 percent.
* Elantra off 1.9 percent to 22,405, edging Sonata, up 3.4 percent to 21,818.
* Santa Fe was up 21 percent to 11,255 units.
8. Kia: 58,897, up 7.7 percent.
* Record month for Soul, +13.5 percent to 17,108.
* Next-bestseller was the Optima, -8.8 percent to 13,980.
* Sorento was +9.7 percent to 10,211.
9. Subaru: 52,697, up 4.9 percent.
* Forester was up 6.9 percent to 17,565.
* Outback dropped 2.8 percent to 11,113.
* WRX/STI was up 128.4 percent to 3,367.
* But BRZ was off 30.8 percent to 498. Combined with Scion FR-S, for 1,458 total, the two topped the new Miata by 114 units.
10. BMW Group: 32,864, up 2 percent.
* The 3 Series was up 24 percent to 10,163.
* The 4 Series was -31.3 percent to 2,940, making the 3-4 combo come in at 13,103.
* The X5 was -19.8 percent to 2,803.
* Mini was up 2.1 percent to 5,109. The Hardtop two-door led at 1,593, up 12 units.
* Mini sold 1,128 Hardtop four-doors.
11. Volkswagen: 32,332, off 8.1 percent.
* Bestseller Jetta was off 27.7 percent to 11,112.
* Passat was off 19.4 percent to 7,409, though still ahead of the new Golf, +86.2 percent to 7,075. Of those, 2,478 were Golf SportWagons.
* Beetle was -26.8 percent to 2,127 and Tiguan was +47.1 percent to 3,165.
12. Mercedes-Benz USA, 31,250, up 3.2 percent.
* The new C-Class was the brand’s bestseller, up 38.9 percent to 7,154. CLA was -3.7 percent to 2,622.
* The S-Class jumped 10.2 percent to 2,044, while E-Class was -38.2 percent to 4,006.
* M-Class led SUVs, though off 22.1 percent to 2,679. Mercedes sold 2,169 GLA-Classes.
* Smart was -53.7 percent to 617, and Sprinter was +20.2 percent to 2,260.
13. Mazda: 29,938, off 4.4 percent.
* The poster model for No Boring Cars, the Miata had its best month since August 2006. It was up 254.6 percent to 1,344, which included the first full month of ND sales.
* Mazda3 was off 6.5 percent to 10,161, and CX-5 was off 6.3 percent to 10,033.
* Mazda6 was off 4.1 percent to 5,402, and the brand sold 698 CX-3s.
14. Audi: 18,794, up 9.9 percent.
* Q5 was up 34.4 percent to 5,051, and A3 was up 31.2 percent to 3,188.
* Soon-to-be-replaced A4 fell 21.4 percent to 2,541, while Q3 was up 389.3 percent to 1,189.
15. Mitsubishi: 8,289, up 22.1 percent.
* Resurgent Mitsubishi recorded its 18th consecutive month of year-over-year sales increases, with Outlander up 92.9 percent to 2,188.
* Outlander Sport was the bestseller at 3,296, up 14.5 percent.
16. Volvo: 5,870, up 18.3 percent.
* Though the new XC90 can be credited for much of the increase, the XC60 remains Volvo’s bestseller here.
17. Jaguar/Land Rover: 6,368, up 12 percent.
* Land Rover was up 16 percent to 5,225, while Jaguar was off 3 percent to 1,143.
* Range Rover Evoque was up 36 percent to 1,430, and LR sold 881 Discovery Sport models.
* F-Type led Jaguar sales, up 15 percent to 436.
18. Porsche: 5,008, up 10.3 percent.
* Cayenne was -1 percent to 1,470, and Macan was +38.3 percent to 1,340.
* Boxster/Cayman was +23 percent to 771, and 911/918 was -6.7 percent to 961.
Compact cars, year to date:
1.) Toyota Corolla 252,106
2.) Honda Civic 221,471
3.) Hyundai Elantra 173,238
4.) Chevrolet Cruze 163,938
5.) Ford Focus 150,427
Midsize cars, YTD:
1.) Toyota Camry 291,843
2.) Nissan Altima 238,200
3.) Honda Accord 231,173
4.) Ford Fusion 206,533
5.) Hyundai Sonata 141,556
Compact CUVs, YTD:
1.) Honda CR-V 229,574
2.) Ford Escape 204,539
3.) Toyota RAV4 200,818
4.) Chevrolet Equinox 192,505
5.) Nissan Rogue 188,143
Luxury/Premium Brands, YTD:
1.) BMW 223,348
2.) Lexus 222,151
3.) Mercedes-Benz 220,870
4.) Audi 130,063
5.) Acura 117,315
