The March sales results are in and almost all of the major players showed significant increases over the prior year. If you look at the percentages, it all seems like we are turning a corner heading towards a record year in the auto industry.
Well first of all you would be dead wrong.
Yes brands like Lexus and Infiniti had banner months compared to the prior year. But if you look back to a year ago they also posted horrid sales results for the month of March. Infiniti for one posted a 47.6% drop for the month of March in 2009, and Lexus fell 38.3% during the same time. So these guys really didn't have to accomplish much to show an increase other than throw money on the hood.
BMW on the other hand losses in March of 2009 were not nearly as bad (24.2%), so a posting a massive increase in 2010 was relatively harder to do. Audi lost the least in 2009 (19.40%) and still maintained impressive gain in 2010, but is another story all together.
So when looking over the figure for the month and the first quarter keep in mind where we were a year ago and remember these figures are unadjusted to maintain equality in reporting. In other words we are all on an equal playing field here so you can judge who did the best. After reviewing the sales let us know who surprised you and why?
| | Mar 2010 | Mar 2009 | %. | | 2010 CYTD | 2009 CYTD | % |
| | | | | | | | |
| Maserati | 189 | 92 | 105.4% | | 394 | 247 | 59.5% |
| Buick | 12,954 | 7,369 | 75.8% | | 32,136 | 20,534 | 56.5% |
| Maybach | 7 | 4 | 75.0% | | 15 | 12 | 25.0% |
| Subaru | 23,785 | 16,249 | 46.4% | | 57,494 | 41,532 | 38.4% |
| Ford | 159,367 | 109,490 | 45.6% | | 382,762 | 273,234 | 40.1% |
| GMC | 27,648 | 19,086 | 44.9% | | 69,407 | 54,410 | 27.6% |
| Nissan | 85,526 | 59,392 | 44.0% | | 204,535 | 154,051 | 32.8% |
| Lexus | 20,219 | 14,239 | 42.0% | | 49,523 | 42,609 | 16.2% |
| Cadillac | 11,639 | 8,209 | 41.8% | | 29,352 | 23,746 | 23.6% |
| Volkswagen | 22,148 | 15,720 | 40.9% | | 58,283 | 42,124 | 38.4% |
| Chevrolet | 133,165 | 94,704 | 40.6% | | 338,458 | 247,445 | 36.8% |
| Toyota | 166,644 | 118,563 | 40.6% | | 336,163 | 317,603 | 5.8% |
| Infiniti | 9,942 | 7,242 | 37.3% | | 23,964 | 20,716 | 15.7% |
| Audi | 8,589 | 6,433 | 33.5% | | 21,315 | 15,808 | 34.8% |
| Acura | 11,722 | 9,005 | 30.2% | | 27,793 | 24,520 | 13.3% |
| Bentley | 131 | 101 | 29.7% | | 311 | 263 | 18.3% |
| Mercedes-Benz | 20,023 | 15,650 | 27.9% | | 50,571 | 40,362 | 25.3% |
| Mercury | 10,486 | 8,307 | 26.2% | | 23,424 | 19,479 | 20.3% |
| Kia | 30,522 | 24,724 | 23.5% | | 76,697 | 68,893 | 11.3% |
| Honda | 96,540 | 79,374 | 21.6% | | 228,619 | 206,465 | 10.7% |
| Land Rover | 2,726 | 2,248 | 21.3% | | 6,716 | 5,847 | 14.9% |
| Lincoln | 8,693 | 7,310 | 18.9% | | 22,410 | 19,034 | 17.7% |
| Mitsubishi | 5,434 | 4,620 | 17.6% | | 13,623 | 13,834 | -1.5% |
| Hyundai | 47,002 | 40,721 | 15.4% | | 111,509 | 95,854 | 16.3% |
| Porsche | 1,905 | 1,749 | 8.9% | | 5,222 | 4,925 | 6.0% |
| Ferrari | 151 | 142 | 6.3% | | 302 | 285 | 6.0% |
| Mazda | 23,193 | 21,974 | 5.5% | | 55,941 | 53,795 | 4.0% |
| BMW | 18,060 | 17,520 | 3.1% | | 46,323 | 42,731 | 8.4% |
| Jeep | 24,393 | 23,771 | 2.6% | | 63,447 | 62,546 | 1.4% |
| Chrysler | 19,780 | 19,502 | 1.4% | | 47,148 | 45,706 | 3.2% |
| Mini | 3,610 | 3,605 | 0.1% | | 8,728 | 8,513 | 2.5% |
| Jaguar | 983 | 1,174 | -16.3% | | 2,375 | 2,749 | -13.6% |
| Volvo | 5,237 | 6,358 | -17.6% | | 14,006 | 12,624 | 10.9% |
| Dodge | 29,506 | 36,401 | -18.9% | | 82,434 | 86,684 | -4.9% |
| Lamborghini | 22 | 41 | -46.3% | | 62 | 97 | -36.1% |
| Rolls Royce | 17 | 33 | -48.5% | | 69 | 99 | -30.3% |
| Smart | 677 | 1,746 | -61.2% | | 1,397 | 4,937 | -71.7% |
| Saturn | 2,737 | 7,333 | -62.7% | | 5,924 | 19,843 | -70.1% |
| Hummer | 294 | 831 | -64.6% | | 855 | 3,106 | -72.5% |
| Suzuki | 2,246 | 7,981 | -71.9% | | 5,661 | 15,131 | -62.6% |
| Saab | 133 | 1,265 | -89.5% | | 741 | 2,932 | -74.7% |
| Pontiac | 109 | 17,583 | -99.4% | | 582 | 40,887 | -98.6% |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
Total
| 1,048,154 | 837,861 | 25.1% | | 2,506,691 | 2,156,212 | 16.3% |
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