After a rough 2009, automakers are counting on sales in 2010 to recover. Now the results are in for the first full month of the year. Some automakers are rallying, while the numbers dash the hopes of others.
Toyota’s sales were adversely affected by a Stop-Sale order on the eight models which account for more than 60 percent of its sales. It ended the month down 8.7 percent over the previous year.
On the other hand, Ford, Hyundai, and Subaru all started 2010 with over 20 percent sales increases over January 2009. Here are the details:
Ford continued its sales surge with a 24 percent increase over last January and an increase in overall market share. Ford’s car models were the big sellers with the Focus, Fusion, and Taurus posting strong increases over last January.
Hyundai sales were also up 24 percent versus a year ago. It’s the company’s thirteenth consecutive month of year-over-year gains. The Elantra and Accent led the way with strong gains in sales over last year. Hyundai is looking to the redesigned Sonata and Tucson to boost sales even further in the coming months.
Coming off a record sales year, Subaru announced a 28 percent sales increase in January with triple digital sales increases for the Legacy and Outback models.
GM was up 14 percent across all its brands. Core brand totals for Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC were up for the fourth month in a row with a 30 percent gain. Sales were strong for the new Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac SRX, and Chevrolet Equinox.
Nissan sales were up 16 percent over last January, led by the Sentra and Altima.
Honda posted a small increase of almost 3 percent over last year. Leading the sales were the Accord and Civic. The company will unveil a redesigned Honda Odyssey minivan concept at the Chicago Auto Show next week.
Despite strong sales from the Dodge Journey, Chrysler Sebring, Jeep Compass, and Dodge Caravan, Chrysler sales decreased 8 percent over last year.
With the suspension of sales of Toyota’s popular models on January 26th, the company lost a few selling days and also ended the month down more than 8 percent compared with last year. The Toyota division was down 12 percent, while Lexus increased 14 percent. While sales of almost all model dropped significantly, the Prius actually saw a 13 percent gain.
—Liza Barth
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