Offshore brands finished May leading U.S. sales with a 54% share of the U.S. auto market, up from 53.1% in April.
There were no real surprises hidden in the U.S. sales data now that all the numbers are in. A slowly recovering U.S. auto market posted sales of 1.45 million light vehicles for a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 15.3 million light vehicles. This represented overall growth of slightly more than 8%, about in line with analyst expectations.
With improving construction and housing markets, pick-up truck sales are rising much to the delight of financial officers at the Detroit Three. The pick-up segment as a whole was up 19.2% compared to May 2012, according to AutoData.
This increased total sales at Ford Motor +14.5% with almost 72,000 F-Series pickup trucks shipped. GM saw 43,000 Chevrolet Silverado and 16,000 GMC Sierra pickups boost its revenue, even as it struggled in the car market 94,175 -6%) where the Japanese automakers still dominate.
Automakers without pickup trucks are dropping U.S. share as the truck market comes roaring back.
Toyota (+2.3% at 214,000), Honda (+4.5% at 140,000) and Nissan (+31.2% at 114,000) comprised a successful Japanese Big Three. The Toyota Camry returned to its position as the top selling car in the U.S., displacing Nissan Altima and Honda Accord, which held the top spot in March and April, respectively.
Offshore nameplate brands finished May leading U.S. sales with a 54% share of the U.S. auto market, up from 53.1% in April, but down from 55.1% in March. Monthly sales for these brands were 781,743 vehicles—an increase over the 682,909 units sold in April, but a decline from the 803,554 vehicles they sold in March. Of the 781,743 vehicles sold by offshore brands in the U.S. during May, 482,415 were manufactured in North American facilities.
Asian automakers captured 45.9% of the market, an improvement over the 43.8% share they held last month. They also had year-over-year sales improvements, selling 651,984 units in May versus 605,570 units during May 2012. In fact, except for the Ford Fusion, there are no Detroit Three cars in the Top Ten selling list, an ongoing problem that is partially masked by increasing domestic truck sales.
Production-constrained Hyundai had its second best month ever with 68,358 units sold, a 2% increase over May 2012. Sister brand Kia was up to 52,000 vehicles for a 1% gain, but year-over year both are dropping share. Without pickups in its line, Volkswagen brand sales were down -1.7% to 52,000, despite the Passat having its best May ever with 10,267 sold.
“Sales are heating up as we head into the summer months,” said American International Automobile Dealer Association President Cody Lusk. “Dealers are confident that the combination of pent up demand, a recovering real estate market, and growing consumer confidence will produce positive results for the auto retail industry.”
