January Sales: Automakers Joust for New Sales Slots

January Sales: Automakers Joust for New Sales Slots

By Michelle Krebs February 3, 2010

January car sales had automakers jousting for new positions in the sales rankings.

General Motors retained its No. 1 sales spot. But Toyota's recall and stop-sale order on eight of its best-selling models caused the Japanese automaker to slip to No. 3, behind Ford.

Ford had lost the No. 2 sales spot to Toyota in 2007 and has been fighting to win it back. It closed 2009 by slashing in half the gap with Toyota. This could be the year with Ford gaining momentum and Toyota in reverse with its quality woes.

Below the top three slots also saw some shifting around. Honda, which surpassed Chrysler last year, retained its No. 4 position in January. But Nissan drove ahead of Chrysler for the No. 5 slot.

Meantime, Chrysler could have trouble holding onto the No. 6 spot. Hyundai Group, including the Hyundai and Kia brands, continues to be on a roll while Chrysler's slump continues, worsened by a lack of new product until Fiat-based models arrive. Chrysler remained ahead of Hyundai Group by only about 4,500 sales.

Tier 2 Re-Shuffling the Tight Pack

There's plenty of jousting for position below the Big 7 as well among the automakers with 2 to 4 percent market share.

Volkswagen-Audi ranks as the No. 8 manufacturer in the U.S., leading a group of auto companies that are tightly packed in together.

Mazda follows Volkswagen-Audi but Subaru is gaining. Mazda edged ahead of Subaru by a scant 83 vehicles in January. However, Subaru beat Mazda for full-year 2009.

Indeed, Subaru, continued putting the pedal to the metal in January as it did throughout 2009, surpassing both Daimler AG, which sells Mercedes-Benz and smart, and the BMW Group, including the BMW and Mini brands.

Meantime, Daimler, despite pathetic smart sales, surpassed BMW in January.

Tier 3 Also Rans

Then there are the also-rans with market share of less than 1 percent. They are Mitsubishi, Jaguar, Land Rover, Suzuki and Porsche, in that order. -- Michelle Krebs, Senior Analyst and Editor at Large

 

 

Michelle Krebs:  is Editor-in-Chief of AutoObserver.com. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.