Offshore brands still had an impressive hold on the core and also growing car market.
The Detroit Three automakers posted impressive April sales gains, hurting foreign brands, the result of a revived truck market, as well as stumbling by giants Toyota, Hyundai, Kia and Volkswagen. In a market that was up 8.5% overall year-over-year to 1.285 million vehicles, according to AutoData, light truck sales rose 15%.
The winners were located in Auburn Hills, Dearborn and Detroit because of their commanding share of the traditional pickup truck and SUV markets. With 634,000 light trucks sold, only 252,000 were from offshore brands.
Ford sold 59,000 F-Series pickups. Ram sold 31,000. Chevrolet sold 39,000 Silverado pickups. GMC sold 14,000 Sierra pickups. Toyota brand saw sales drop by 1.5% to 176,000, and Volkswagen sales slipped 10.3% to 34,000, its first drop in 31 months from a company with no traditional truck offerings.
Asian automakers captured 43.8% of the U.S. market, down from 46.3% in March.
Offshore nameplate brands only held 53% U.S. market share, down from the 55% share held in March and 53% in February. Overall, international brands sold 682,909 units, down from 803,554 vehicles in March, but an improvement compared to April 2012 sales of 654,148 units.
“April was a mixed bag, as far as brand performance,” said AIADA President Cody Lusk. “Sales conditions, however, remain strong. Steady gas prices and pent-up consumer demand should provide international nameplate dealers with plenty of opportunity in May.”
The Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado pickups continued their reign as the top-selling vehicles in the U.S. In third position, the Honda Accord sold 33,538 units to outsell the Toyota Camry, which sold 31,710 units and occupied fourth place. The Nissan Altima, which was the top selling car in March, fell to number 14 in April. At number seven, the Honda CR-V regained its foothold in the top ten for the first time since December 2012. The compact Honda Civic and Hyundai Elantra finished the month in eighth and tenth place, respectively, to round out the five international nameplates on this month’s top ten list.
AutoData estimated the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) at 14.92 million units, an improvement over 14.12 million units a year ago.
