The sales boom couldn’t last forever. More automakers posted declines than increases in May, leading to a six percent drop in sales from the previous May to 1.53 million cars, according to WardsAuto. Several automakers that did show increases all hovered around one percent, aside from a few hot brands such as Jaguar Land Rover and Hyundai. There were two fewer selling days this May, but in reality, automakers hoping to ride 2015’s record wave are hitting the shallows sooner in 2016 than they’d have liked. Expect a lot more incentives in the months ahead, but for now, here’s our latest score card.
Hyundai, Jaguar, and Volvo were among the few bright spots
A few automakers stood out from the doom and gloom of May 2016, with Hyundai, Jaguar, and Volvo each posting double-digit increases compared to last year. To no one’s surprise, crossovers and SUVs were major factors in each case. Hyundai’s 12 percent gain, to 71,006 sales, was mostly attributable to a strong month for its entire crossover lineup: the compact Tucson was up 90 percent to 7369 units, and the mid-size Santa Fe Sport and three-row Santa Fe posted increases of 74 percent and 123 percent for a total of 14,732 units. That was more than enough to make up for decreases from the Sonata, the Elantra, and the Genesis.
Jaguar’s massive gain of nearly 80 percent was thanks to its two highly anticipated new models, the F-Pace crossover and the XE compact sedan. Finally going on sale in the U.S. in May, the XE rang up 598 sales and the F-Pace registered a demonic-sounding 666 sales, which propelled the brand to a total of 2164 units for May. And over at Volvo, the new XC90 SUV continues to propel the Swedes forward. It recorded 2467 sales this month, making up nearly half of Volvo’s total of 5536 units. That was enough for an overall gain of 10 percent, despite declines for nearly every other Volvo model.
General Motors gets torpedoed
General Motors had a disappointing May with year-over-year sales down 18 percent to 240,450 cars. As before, no one is noticing the Cadillac ATS, CTS, or XTS – all of them down between 29 and 40 percent. The Escalade is the brand’s only continuing bright spot. At Chevy, the Spark (up 29 percent), Volt (18 percent), and Malibu (13 percent) did well, while most of the lineup suffered double-digit declines. Most every GM passenger car did poorly in May. The company blames the Japanese earthquake for supplier shortages that slowed production at three of its assembly plants that build the XT5, Acadia, Cruze, Malibu, and LaCrosse. It also cites a large drop in rental sales, its largest year-over-year monthly decline (82,000 fewer cars) in the past 18 months. Still, GM’s fleet business represented 21 percent of all May sales. We can see the Sonic dropping 67 percent, but how is the new Camaro is down more than 40 percent? You know what that means: cash rebates!
The Toyota RAV4’s new hybrid model is providing a significant sales boost
Honda’s CR-V may not be able to defend its best-selling SUV title this year. The Toyota RAV4 is surging ahead of the Honda so far in 2016, and its newly available hybrid variant—the only gas-electric model in its segment since the discontinuation of the Ford Escape hybrid—is a significant factor in its sales boost. Through May, Toyota has sold 15,476 RAV4 hybrids, or around 11 percent of the 138,535 RAV4s sold this year to date. The CR-V, meanwhile, has lost some momentum, and trails the RAV4 through May by 9075 units. A new CR-V is coming soon, but likely won’t go on sale until next year. We’ll see over the coming months if Toyota can keep up the RAV4’s strong pace through the end of 2016.
Plug-in hybrids wield the power
While it’s great time to be an SUV in America, it’s pretty sour for hybrids generally. According to WardsAuto, traditional gas-electric hybrids were down 27 percent in May to 28,978 cars. Pure-electric cars were down 25 percent to 5237 cars. But plug-in hybrids, even if they make little sense from both a technical and a cost-saving perspective, saw a 29-percent jump in sales to 5704 cars. The Chevrolet Volt found 1901 buyers, while the Ford sold 1453 copies of its Fusion Energi. The Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid managed 194 sales, up 85 percent, while the BMW X5 xDrive40e attracted 656 buyers who might otherwise have taken home a perfectly good V-8. Also 146 people signed papers on a new i8, a 25-percent jump, and they’re all still smiling like fools. Rich fools.
German luxury brands deliver mixed performance
When Toyota posts a 10 percent drop—the RAV4, 4Runner, Land Cruiser, and Lexus LS were its only positives—you know the new-car market is getting saturated. Lexus sales also dropped 10 percent. The BMW 3-series may have gotten too popular for its own good; sales were off 16 percent. Meanwhile the whole BMW lineup, including Mini, was down nine percent. BMW SUVs killed it, though, with the new X1 up 94 percent and the X3 and X6 gaining 28 and 26 percent. The X3 was flat.
At Mercedes, sales declined just two percent. Credit the new GLC (up 64 percent), the not-so-new GL (up 45 percent) and refreshed GLE (flat) for keeping the momentum. The new C-class coupe will help matters once it arrives, as will the 2017 E-class later in the year. Van sales were up three percent, and the mighty G-class climbed a 28-percent grade. At Audi, which unlike VW is suffering only minor flesh wounds from the diesel scandal, sales were up two percent to 18,728 cars, which marked the 65th month of consecutive increases. Even if the A8 looks like an A6, and the new A4 looks like a 10-year-old A4, the four rings are rolling. Porsche leaped seven percent to 4578 cars thanks to the Macan (up 36 percent). And the 911, up 18 percent, turned in 993 sales. How perfect.
High profile, low sales from FCA’s Italian-American exotics
The lowest-volume vehicles in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ large product portfolio are also those that draw the most attention: the brutish, V-10–powered Dodge Viper and the striking, near-exotic Alfa Romeo 4C. Monthly sales numbers for these two extreme sports cars rarely get beyond double digits, and May was no exception, with 47 copies of the Viper and 44 Alfa 4Cs leaving dealerships this past month. But we were surprised to see that the U.S. buying public has gotten its hands on a few more Alfas than Vipers so far this year: The 4C has recorded 273 sales through May, while the Viper totals 241. Of course, with the Viper’s demise rapidly approaching, a potential farewell-edition model could bring a few more people into the fold before production ceases next year.
Powered by WPeMatico
