Half-Time Scores: Winners Lose The Least; Subaru Ultimate Winner
By Michelle Krebs July 15, 2009By Michelle Krebs
The first six months of this year - one of the worst periods in recent history for vehicle sales - is over, so it's time to look at the leader board.
And as in golf, the automakers with the lowest scores win. Every automaker selling vehicles in the U.S. posted a sales decline, with the total industry recorded a 35.1-percent drop in sales for the first six months compared with the year-ago half, according to Edmunds.com's analysis.
The "winners" were those that lost the least.
So in this era when flat is the new up, Subaru was the ultimate winner. On the strength of its newly redesigned, award-winning Forester, Subaru recorded a scant 0.8 percent year-to-year sales decline.
Kia, the only other brand to show merely a single-digit drop, recorded the next smallest decline at 6.5 percent. Both Kia and Hyundai, which ranked fourth smallest decline, have been appealing to today's budget-conscious customer on the strength of their value reputations. New winning models for both in the Kia Soul and Hyundai Genesis helped as well. Plus Hyundai's Assurance plan, the first such program to provide buyers losing income with an escape hatch, resonated soundly with consumers.
Losing Less Than the Industry Average
Despite softness in small-car sales during the half, Daimler's smart, which only came into the market in January 2008, and BMW's Mini had relatively minimal sales declines at 11.3 percent and 21.1 percent respectively.
Volkswagen and Audi, both of which are making a big push for huge increases in sales and market share in the U.S., each saw only a 16-percent dip in sales.
Ford clearly benefited from being different from Detroit brethren General Motors and Chrysler by not being in bankruptcy and not accepting government financing. Both the Ford and Lincoln brands posted year-over-year sales declines that were less than the industry average. However, Mercury, still trying to find its place in the fold, had a 38.4 percent sales drop, a tad worse than the industry generally.
Buick was the only other domestic brand to post a sales decline less than the industry average.
Other better-than-average performances came from: Land Rover and Jaguar, who had been last year's orphans until their adoption by India's Tata Motors; BMW and Mercedes-Benz, suggesting the affluent always have money for luxury albeit not in the numbers of the past; Nissan, Honda, Mazda and Acura.
Biggest Losers
Not surprisingly, brands owned by GM and Chrysler suffered larger-than-industry-average sales declines during the run up to the actual filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy papers late in the half.
Hummer, which GM is in the midst of selling to a Chinese company, ranked as the absolute biggest loser with sales down 61.7 percent from a year ago, which wasn't a period of great shakes either.
GM's Saturn, in the process of being sold to the Penske Automotive Group where it will be re-invented, saw a hefty 58.1 percent drop in sales. Saab, which was in restructuring mode in Swedish courts and is in the process of being sold, had a 55.4 percent plummet. The soon-to-be-defunct Pontiac posted a 41.9-percent sales slide.
Even though GM is keeping Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC, along with Buick, all posted sales drops steeper than the industry average.
At Chrysler, now out of bankruptcy along with GM, had hefty sales drops at its divisions - Chrysler down 56.9 percent, Dodge off 43.1 percent and Jeep down 40.2 percent. Chrysler execs are quick to point out some of the decline was due to its intentional scaling back of fleet sales. However, clearly the bankruptcy buzz played a role as did other factors, including Chrysler struggling to provide financing, notably leasing, to consumers.
Another orphan brand, Volvo, turned in a sub-par performance. Ford has put the Swedish brand on the auction block.
The venerable Toyota fared poorly as well. Only its Lexus luxury brand did better than the industry average, but only slightly. Its youth brand Scion suffered a 60.4 percent decline in first-half sales for the industry's second largest decline behind Hummer. The Toyota line fell 36.9 percent.
Little guys Suzuki and Mitsubishi demonstrated during the half why they might want to seriously consider the advice of some Japanese industry experts who advocate they get out of America. Suzuki's sales plummeted 60.2 percent; Mitsubishi's were off 50.9 percent.
Porsche's sales throughout the half worsened, selling a scant 902 vehicles in June, putting its first-half sales decline slightly more than the industry average. Nissan's Infiniti also had a sales decline, to round out the list of worse-than-average performers.
LEAVE A COMMENT
Tell me again, why do we need 37 automotive brands? That's more flavors than Baskin Robbins.
What's the deal with Scion? We're interested in one but the depreciation hit is going to be killer. Good think we drive them forever. Scion even had the nerve to raise 2010 pricing by $150 (but they did make stability control standard).
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