August sales report – Final

As expected, last month’s light vehicle sales suffered by comparison with August 2009, when cars and trucks were flying off dealer lots thanks to the federal government’s “Cash for Clunkers” program. What wasn’t expected was that they also suffered in comparison with July 2010′s results.

A total of just under 997,500 light vehicles were sold in August 2010, over a quarter-million fewer than changed hands in the same month last year. That works out to a 21.0% drop. Sales fell by more than 52,600 from July 2010, too, a deficit of 5.0 percent. Disappointment in the state of the economy and the continuing implosion of the housing market drove consumer sentiment down last month and the sales pace slowed significantly toward the end of August.

According to Autodata, August’s seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate (SAAR) came in at 11.47 million light vehicle sales. This is 2.7 million sales less than the 14.17 million rate recorded last August. Compared to the 11.54 million rate in July 2010, the August SAAR shows the market continues to see-saw in a narrow range with an up month followed by a down month, a pattern the has held true for the first eight months of this year. Automotive News is even more pessimistic, pegging the SAAR at 10.8 million. Whichever number you use, it’s lower than the analysts polled by Bloomberg and the Automotive News figure is well below the revised 11.4 million forecast by J.D. Power & Associates just yesterday. With just four more sales months in 2010, it’s getting harder to see how sales could hit the hoped-for 12 million mark.

Small cars took the biggest hit last month, many had deficits of 50% or more. Luxury brands, which weren’t eligible to the government rebates, generally fared better a year later. Full-size pickups continued to buck the trend with almost all models finishing the month on the good side of the ledger.

GM reported total light vehicle sales volume fell 24.6% in August, exceeding the most pessimistic analyst forecast, but core brand sales declined only 10.2 percent.* Buick sales were up 66% and Cadillac sales soared 83.1 from their 2009 marks. GMC sales were up 12.3% but all the gains were wiped out by a 21.4% tumble in sales of Chevrolet products. Chevrolet’s only winners were the Avalanche, Corvette, Malibu, Silverado and Tahoe. Retail sales were down 29% for the month. Of more concern is the fact GM core brand sales were down 7.3% from July indicating the new vehicle market is still in the doldrums.

Ford sales fell 10.6% with both Ford and Mercury brands suffering from rebate payback time. Lincoln, who vehicles weren’t covered under the cash for clunkers program, saw a 9.4% improvement.* The F-series pickup bucked the trend with a 4.5% gain, becoming the first light vehicle to cross the 300,000-sales mark. As was true of GM, Ford saw its sales come up short compared to July but Ford’s margin was even greater – a 13.3% deficit. [Note: Ford is no longer reporting Volvo sales, so all comparisons are with Ford domestic brands only.]

Chrysler was the only Detroit automaker to beat both its August 2009 and July 2010 numbers. The margins were 6.9% and 6.7%, respectively. At first glance, the Grand Cherokee’s 16.7% shortfall might be cause for concern but a check of the August 2009 results show the Grand Cherokee had a 53.6% increase over August 2008, so this year’s numbers are still in line with normal expectations. Of special note is the fact Chrysler took a 10% chunk of the light vehicle market in August after picking up 2.6 points of share, the largest gain of any automaker.

Toyota took it on the chin last month, losing three points of market share, much of which went to Chrysler. After feasting on the government’s largesse in 2009, the leading Japanese automaker paid the piper in 2010. Sales were down 31.4% while Toyota brand sales fell 33.7 percent. Sales of Toyota’s passenger cars took a 44.6% nosedive. Lexus sales were down, as well, reporting a 11.6% drop. Tundra sales fell 438 percent, making it the only full-size pickup to miss its 2009 numbers.

Honda Division reported a 33.4% hangover with sales of the Fit and Civic down 51.3% and 45.2%, respectively. Acura sales were up 24.6% keeping the total damage to 30.0 percent for the month. The Odyssey took the minivan crown for the month, followed by the Sienna, Town & Country an Caravan. The Town & Country still leads in YTD results.

Nissan was another brand helped by its upscale division. While Nissan brand sales were down 30.9 percent, Infiniti sales jumped 21.9 percent on triple-digit improvements reported by the M and QX56. Sales of the Titan pickup rose 39.6 percent. In YTD sales, Nissan now trails Chrysler by more than 120,000 units.

All three of the major Japanese automakers came up short compared to their sales in July. Toyota had the biggest loss, down 12.3 percent, Honda’s deficit was 3.3 percent and Nissan’s was 4.3 percent.

Mazda missed its target by 22.7% as a 32.1% drop in car sales was softened by a comparatively minor 2.4% stumble in truck sales. the CX-9 was the only Mazda model to finish in the black. Mazda sales were also down 4.8% from July.

The piper collected from Subaru, too, ending a long streak of year-over-year gains. Sales fell 22.5% compared to August 2009 and 7.3% compared to July 2010. There was a bit of a silver lining in the gray cloud: the Outback set a monthly sales record.

Suzuki sales tanked again, falling 68.2% as the new Kizashi was the only line with numbers in the plus column. Sales also fell 6.3% compared to July.

Mitsubishi sales dropped 37.0% as only the low-volume Lancer Evolution and Lancer Sportback came in ahead of last year. Mitsu sales was also down 24.0% from July.

Kia, one of the big beneficiaries of the government rebate program, missed its year-ago numbers for the first time in quite a while. Sales of the junior Korean brand were off by 19.2% last month. Kia also missed it’s July 2010 record by 8.3 percent. Sales of the Sorento and Forte remain strong but those of the little Rio and Optima dropped like rocks. The story was the same at Hyundai where sales were down 11.4% despite a huge jump in sales of the Sonata. Hyundai’s August results were just 503 units short of its July totals, a deficit of 0.9 percent.

Though the Jetta Sportwagen has set a new record in YTD sales and the Passat had its best month since December 2008, Volkswagen took a little 7.9% hit compared to last year and a big 28.1% hit compared to July. Sales of the CC were up 31.4 percent. Audi, on the other hand, had a record sales month, beating both its August 2009 sales by 14.0% and its July total by 17.5 percent.

BMW brand sales were up 1.6% in August, led by a 24.4% jump in sales of its SUVs and nice gains for the 1-series and Z4. Car sales were down 3.1% as were sales of the Mini which fell by 13.4 percent. BMW outsold Lexus by 75 units in August to take the top spot in the luxury segment for the month. BOth BMW and Mini brands beat their July results.

Mercedes-Benz beat its 2009 numbers by 10.1% (the 15% is only if you add the Sprinter commercial vehicles) with big jumps in sales of the C-Class and E-Class. Mercedes also bested its July sales by 4.3 percent. The low-volume R-Class MPV and G-Class SUV also beat their marks from last year. Daimler’s Smart line disappointed again with a 72.4% plunge compared to August 2009 and a 20% drop compared to July 2010. Year-to-date (YTD) sales total just 4,357. Daimler is convinced a colorful body refresh will do the trick but the fact remains the Smart is a 13-year-old vehicle that is not truly competitive with modern small cars. Daimler is planning to resurrect the 4-passenger Forfour, but the ForTwo is going to need a wheels-up makeover to hit anything like Daimler’s desired numbers.

Porsche sales were up 33.2% last month as the new Cayenne resumed its position as Porsche’s best-seller. Porsche was another premium brand not eligible for cash-for-clunkers cash last year. However, Porsche missed its July results by 24.8 percent.

Manufacturer incentives were up 9.2% from last year with Nissan sweeteners reaching record levels. GM led in freebies last month as it did in July with Chrysler in second place. Last August, Chrysler, which fared the worst under the rebate program, had the most cash on the hood.

With just four months left in the year, it’s hard to see how sales will reach the hoped-for 12 million. As of the end of August, YTD sales stand at 7.66 million; that’s 8.4 percent ahead of the first eight months of last year but automakers will have to sell an average of just over a million light vehicles per month to hit that mark. However, barring another major body blow to the economy, the 2010 total should be close, 11.8 million or so, and will come in well ahead of the 10.34 million result from 2009.

Chrysler has fended off challenges from Nissan and Hyundai to knock it out of fifth place. As the folks in Auburn Hills roll out additional new vehicles and old ones finally drop off the reports, look for it to challenge Honda for fourth place.

*GM and Ford include sales of medium and heavy trucks in their figures. As most other automakers do not include similar vehicles in their totals, Allpar factors them out. For this reason, numbers you see on Allpar may be slightly different than those reported elsewhere. Allpar figures are based on manufacturers’ reports and we crunch the numbers ourselves.

 Like on Facebook