Nissan is benefiting from a deft move that had it building all it could from existing or still in production parts – not what was ordered. "Would you like this car or would you rather wait?"
The Japanese Big Three automakers once again posted widely varying monthly sales results, this time with August sales results in the U.S. If this recent trend of the past four months continues, it could reorder long held sales rankings. It’s now possible that Nissan could ultimately surpass Honda as the Number 2 Japanese company in the U.S. this year.
Overall, sales of offshore brand vehicles on a seasonally adjusted annual basis (SAAR) were off ~ 400,000 units for the month compared to August sales of 2010 or year-over year (y-o-y). This was largely, if not entirely, because of Japanese automaker shortfalls and this month with results literally dampened by an American disaster – Hurricane Irene. However, the pain was not shared equally.
This means, among other things, that the Detroit Three – GM (219,000), Ford (175,000) and Chrysler (130,000) in descending August sales order – were literally the Big 3 once again, as they were in July. However, if you eliminate the rounding used here, Chrysler led Toyota by a mere 636 vehicles.
American Honda continued to struggle, as it has since the Japan earthquake back in March, posting inventory-restrained monthly sales of 82,000 cars and light trucks of Honda and Acura brands. This was a drop of 27% on a daily selling rate basis compared with a sluggish August of 2010.
Nissan North America, at 92,000 Infiniti and Nissan vehicles (+19%), neatly surpassed Honda to reside in the Number 5 U.S. auto sales spot overall. As it stands, and perhaps for not much longer, Nissan is benefiting from a deft move that had Nissan building all that it could from existing or still in production parts – not exactly what the dealer or customer ordered, and then in effect saying (at least to dealers) would you like this car now or would you rather wait? Nissan was helped in implementing this strategy by its limited dependence on Japanese produced components, which goes back to its reorganization and bailout by Renault a decade ago.
The reigning Sumo wrestler champion in Japanese sales, Toyota, fared less well than Nissan and was in the Number 4 spot for U.S. sales overall – same as last month. this time Toyota Motors Sales peddled 130,000 Lexus and Toyota vehicles in August, a decrease of 16% y-o-y and about the same as last month in units.
All Toyota North American production will return to normal levels in September, so place your bets as to the outcome. Toyota also has a new Camry just going into production right now – and its introduction is being pulled ahead a by a couple of weeks to late this month.
Above all, all automakers will be hawking Labor Day Weekend sales by the time you read this, which could have position-changing effects in September. (See Toyota Increases Fuel Economy and Equipment While Cutting Prices on 2012 Camry – a Gambit to Reestablish Leadership)
