The Decade's Winners and Losers: The Data
December 28, 2009

Not only is 2009, one of the single most tumultuous years for the auto industry, drawing to a close, but so is the first decade of a new century.

As the year winds down, data analysts at Edmunds.com are cranking away at numbers that are certain not only to entertain but also demonstrate how cataclysmic 2009 turned out to be, particularly viewed through the prism of a closing decade's worth of sales-performance trends: market share destroyed, market share gained. Years of growth turned upside down. Surprising sales-volume gains, foreboding losses.

The ever-present import-versus-domestic battle in almost startling perspective.

The numbers speak for themselves with only one caveat: because December's sales are not yet final, all figures reflect 2009 sales through November.

Market Share: The Hard Truth For The Domestics

The industry's most encompassing trend is market share, and judged by that metric, the decade was not kind to General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC - particularly after the decade's final year saw GM and Chrysler endure rupturing, though brief, Chapter 11 bankruptcies.

The numbers are scathing: in 1999, GM's market share was 30.1 percent; it now is 19.9 percent. Ford has ceded a similarly debilitating amount, shedding 8.8 points from 1999's 24.5 percent to 15.7 percent market share in 2009.

Chrysler has fallen from 15 percent market share in 1999 to 9 percent this year.

Those losses have ended up almost entirely in the laps of Japan's major automakers: Toyota Motor Corp. has nearly doubled down on 1999's 8.7-percent market share to a 16.9-percent share to finish 2009. Honda Motor Co. Ltd. scampered from just 6.4 percent to this year's 11.1 percent share of the market. Even Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., which went through it own wrenching reorganization in the middle part of the decade, all but doubled its share, going from 4 percent in 1999 to 7.4 percent now.

But it is the Hyundai Group that owns the decade's most notable - and most critic-defying - ascent. The group (Hyundai and Kia combined) has gritted out more than a fourfold increase in market share over the past decade, moving from a tenuous 1.8 percent of the market in 1999 to its 7.3 percent market share in 2009.

Share for the Hyundai brand alone now exceeds all but six other makes: Dodge, Nissan, Honda, Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota.

The market-share picture from 1999 to 2009 by makers' origin: U.S. makers plunged from 68 percent to 44 percent; Japan rocketed from 24 percent to 40 percent; European makers moved from 6 percent to 8 percent and South Korea jumped from 2 percent to 7 percent.

Overall, domestics dove from a command of 70.3 percent of the market in 1999 to 43.9 percent market share in 2009. Imports now own 56.1 percent of the U.S. market.

Cars And Trucks Swap And Reswap

This was the decade of the truck - until it wasn't anymore. Sales trendlines for the passenger-car and light-truck mix intertwine like DNA: from 1999 through 2004, truck share gained almost every year, but peaked at 53.6 percent in 2004. Truck sales dropped, regained the sales majority (50.2 percent) briefly in 2007, and have declined since, as environmental and economic forces appear to have put an indefinite end to trucks' dominance over cars.

The passenger-car percent of the mix was 51.8 percent in 1999. Cars bottomed for the decade at 46.4 percent in 2004 and now have rebounded to 54.9 percent of the sales mix for 2009.

Most Popular Models: Some Things Don't Change (Much)

Some have said the market's upheaval ended up making 2009 look a lot like 1999, and judging by the most popular models separated by a decade, that is partially true.

Of the 10 best-selling nameplates in 1999, five are among the same group 10 years later: Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Toyota Camry, Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado 1500.

In 1999, the other five nameplates in the top 10 were Ford Taurus (the old, discontinued version), Ford Ranger, Ford Explorer, Dodge Caravan and Jeep Grand Cherokee.

For 2009, the five models rounding out the top 10 are: Toyota Corolla, Nissan Altima, Honda CR-V, Chevrolet Impala and Ford Fusion. (December sales potentially could slightly rearrange the bottom of the year's best-seller list).

Bestsellers, 1999 and 2009

  

Make	Model	Rank in 1999	Rank in 2009	Sales 1999	Sales 2009
Toyota	Camry	4	1	371,968	300,504
Honda	Accord	3	2	372,617	261,332
Ford	F-150	1	3	486,209	250,791
Toyota	Corolla	14	4	230,595	223,319
Honda	Civic	8	5	295,902	222,755
Chevrolet	Silverado 1500	2	6	396,803	219,503
Nissan	Altima	30	7	141,873	176,410
Honda	CR-V	45	8	110,474	172,528
Chevrolet	Impala	69	9	68,076	151,952
Ford	Fusion	*	10	N/A	147,821

Source: Edmunds.com

 

Fun Details

Have far has the industry progressed in the past decade? It depends on your definition of "progress."

In terms of fuel economy, the highest-economy models on the market in 1999 were the 38- miles-per-gallon (city/highway combined) Volkswagen Golf and Beetle diesels.

In 2009, the number hasn't increased all that much, although the technology to get there is different: the fuel-economy crown this year goes to the combined 46-mpg of the hybrid-electric Toyota Prius.

Meanwhile, the most horsepower money could buy in 1999 was the 450 horses delivered by the Dodge Viper. You're no longer in Kansas, Dorothy, as 450 horses is almost a common number a decade later. This year's horsepower leader: the 1,001-horse Bugatti Veyron 16.4.

At the bottom end, the 70-horsepower smart fortwo is the butt of many girly-car jokes in 2009, but in 1999, the Chevrolet Metro had more seats and more doors than the tiny smart - but just 55 horsepower as the market's lowest-powered model.

And for all those saying the number of makes and models is likely to contract, it seems probable given the wild proliferation the past decade brought.

In 1999, Edmunds.com data indicate there were 38 makes and 232 individual models for sale in the U.S. By the end of 2009 - albeit with several makes and nameplates ready to become history - the number of makes stands at 47, with the number of individual models ballooning 50 percent in the past ten years to 345. - Bill Visnic, Senior Contributing Editor

Photos by Manufacturers

1 - Toyota Camry is likely the best-selling vehicle for 2009; it was on the top 10 list in 1999 as well.

2 - Toyota Prius is fuel-economy leader for 2009; in 1999, it was Volkswagen's diesel-powered Golf and Beetle.

 

 

Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:05 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM , Toyota | Comments (3) | digg this | Seed Newsvine

Technorati Tags: 2009carsales, bugattiveyron, chevroletimpala, chevroletmetro, chevroletsilverado1500, dieselcars, dodgecaravan, dodgeviper, fordexplorer, fordf150, fordfusion, fordranger, fordtaurus, hondaaccord, hondacivic, hondacrv, hybridcars, jeepgrandcherokee, nissanaltima, toyotacamry, toyotacorolla, toyotaprius, volkswagenbeetle, volkswagengolf