Every major manufacturer posted year-over-year gains last month as U.S. auto sales kicked off 2015 with large helpings of trucks and big ladles of cheap gas.
In total, 1,152,480 vehicles left lots in January, a 13.7-percent increase over 2014 and the second consecutive year of 1-million-plus sales in that first month. Americans bought 20 percent more pickups and SUVs than last January, with the Ford F-series and Chevrolet Silverado (no surprise) leading the way. General Motors, with 202,786 sales, led the industry with an 18.3-percent increase, followed by Ford and Toyota (both 15.6 percent), Nissan (15.1 percent), and Fiat Chrysler (14 percent).
Among individual brands, only Volvo and Volkswagen were flat, at 3794 and 23,504 units, respectively. The biggest winner was Mitsubishi, up 42 percent with 6943 sales, a total that surpassed Lincoln’s by several hundred and doubled Fiat’s. Lexus (up 31.2 percent), GMC (28.6 percent), Porsche (27.2 percent), and Mini (26.9 percent) rounded out the top five gainers. Don’t feel bad for Bentley’s measly 96 cars, a 50-percent decline and the worst of all marques, since we’re still talking $30 million or so. Maserati should be sweating over its 20.4-percent drop, since that’s exactly what the new Ghibli was supposed to reverse. The four other nameplates posting red ink were Buick, Smart, Jaguar, and Scion—to which we can only say, please buy more FR-S coupes so they don’t ax the damn thing.
Since the list of top 10 highest-selling nameplates can pretty much be engraved in stone for all eternity (F-Series, Silverado, Ram, Corolla, Camry, Altima, CR-V, Accord, Escape, RAV4), we’ll pick out a few standouts that had the largest increases. There was lots of happiness in van land: We’d like to congratulate the Kia Sedona’s long overdue redesign for giving this minivan a 278-percent bounce. A windowless commercial minivan, the Ram C/V Tradesman, shot up 210 percent in January, and the Euro-buff Ram ProMaster jumped 160 percent. Volkswagen Golf sales went up 145 percent (two “of the year” awards may have assisted), and the Chevy Suburban, Cadillac Escalade, GMC Yukon, Lincoln Navigator, and Ford Mustang also enjoyed triple-digit surges.
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On the flip side, here are some models that circled the drain last month: Mercedes sold five SLS AMG gullwings, Dodge dealers had to give away 242 Avengers, Volvo still had six C70 convertibles, and among super-pricey plug-in hybrid coupes, the Cadillac ELR outdid the BMW i8 by seven units. As that car’s ad would say, “Suck it, Munich.”
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via Agya
