Not one Detroit Three car is in the best seller list.
Japanese automakers with Asian tsunami and flooding production disruptions behind them and helped, ironically, by post Hurricane Sandy demand on the East Coast picked up marketshare in the U.S. in November. Helped by cheap money from the U.S Treasury supercharged printing press and a shift to smaller automobiles from trucks, Asian brands captured 46% of the business in November, up from 44.4% marketshare in October. The age of the U.S. fleet, now at 11 years, is also creating sales as the 80% of Americans still with jobs use a car to commute to work. Overall, offshore brands captured almost 58% of the slowly recovering U.S. auto market, which grew by 15% to 1.14 million vehicles, resulting in sales of 660,946 vehicles – up from 606,029 vehicles in October.
Some of the increases looked staggering. Honda posted an all-time U.S. sales record for November at 116,580 Honda and Acura vehicles, an increase of 38.9% from November 2011. The Japanese sales leader, Toyota Motor Sales, sold 162,000 Scion, Lexus and Toyota vehicles, a 17% increase. Nissan at 96,000 was up 13%. Mazda was up 18% to 22,000. Subaru sold 28,000 vehicles, up 60%.
“Replacement of vehicles damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Sandy is partially responsible for strong sales,” said Bill Fay, Toyota Division group vice president. “However, pent up demand, record low finance rates and exciting new products are also driving demand.”
European nameplates also had a good month, selling 136,536 units for a 12% share of the market, which is an increase over the 11% share and 120,645 vehicles sold in October. These brands are up 28% compared with November 2011 and 20% percent for the year-to-date.
The Detroit Three in November held 42% of the U.S. auto market with sales of 482,559 vehicles, a decrease from the 44.5% share they held in October. Combined Chrysler Group, Ford Motor and General Motors posted a 7% sales increase over last November, and are up 8% year-to-date.
“Going into December, international nameplate auto dealers are poised to end 2012 with a bang,” said AIADA President Cody Lusk.
