Automotive Industry Reports Retail Sales for March

Once again Hyundai continues to buck the trend and report sales each month this year that are up, flat or less down than the industry.  What we are seeing at Key Hyundai of Manchester is that as consumers are searching for value, Hyundai is on their consideration list like never before.   Hyundai continues to benefit from the strong relationship of the won to the dollar.  In fact, the won is 33% stronger now than it was when Hyundai did it’s planning last year.  That’s allowed Hyundai to keep it’s prices reasonable and to continue to pass on strong incentives to the consumer.  Last month, Key Hyundai of Manchester, CT’s Hyundai dealer, saw strong sales of the remainder of our 2008 Hyundai Elantras.  Although business was robust, we found that people were value conscious and willing to drive to us from almost anywhere to get the best deal.  We had many Hartford Hyundai buyers, Enfield Hyundai buyers and even a few Meriden Hyundai buyers come our way.  This month, we are heavily discounting the 2009 Hyundai Sonata in order to drive volume and reduce some of our Hyundai Sonata inventory.  You can find our current ad on our website, www.driveworryfree.com, or in the Reminder Newspaper.  

If you are interested in the nuts and bolts of the auto numbers, all the manufacturers sales are listed below.  The percentage changes are all year over year so they look a bit daunting.  The brighter story is that on a month over month basis, the auto industry actually saw a slight increase (which you would expect given the seasonality in our business). 

U.S. light-vehicle sales (all manufacturers have reported)

Automaker Mar. 2009 Mar. 2008 Pct. chng. 3 month 2009 3 month 2008 Pct. chng. BMW Group* 21,161 27,441 –22.9% 51,352 68,640 –25.2% Chrysler LLC** 101,001 166,386 –39.3% 247,208 453,871 –45.5% Daimler AG*** 17,363 22,565 –23.1% 45,216 61,132 –26.0% Ford Motor Co.**** 131,102 226,448 –42.1% 323,193 581,784 –44.4% General Motors***** 155,334 280,713 –44.7% 409,702 800,376 –48.8% Honda (American)† 88,379 138,734 –36.3% 230,985 352,642 –34.5% Hyundai Group†† 65,445 67,667 –3.3% 164,747 163,552 0.7% Isuzu – 583 – 165 1,907 –91.3% Jaguar Land Rover‡ 3,422 – – 8,596 – – Maserati 92 250 –63.2% 247 585 –57.8% Mazda 21,974 32,929 –33.3% 53,795 77,689 –30.8% Mitsubishi 4,620 10,750 –57.0% 13,834 27,082 –48.9% Nissan††† 66,634 106,921 –37.7% 174,767 269,745 –35.2% Porsche 1,749 2,467 –29.1% 4,925 6,777 –27.3% Subaru 16,249 16,686 –2.6% 41,532 40,882 1.6% Suzuki 7,981 10,510 –24.1% 15,131 26,430 –42.8% Toyota‡ 132,802 217,729 –39.0% 359,671 571,747 –37.1% VW‡‡‡ 22,254 27,831 –20.0% 58,195 71,967 –19.1% Other (estimate) 420 579 –27.5% 1,260 1,737 –27.5% TOTAL 857,982 1,357,189 –36.8% 2,204,521 3,578,545 –38.4%

Numbers in this table are calculated by Automotive News based on actual monthly sales reported by the manufacturers and may differ from numbers reported elsewhere. Source: Automotive News Data Center Note: Other includes estimates for Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Lotus Includes Mini and Rolls-Royce *DaimlerChrysler sold the Chrysler group on Aug. 3, 2007 **Incudes Maybach, Mercedes-Benz and Smart ***Includes Jaguar and Land Rover (through May 31, 2008) and Volvo ****Includes Saab †Includes Honda Division and Acura ††Includes Hyundai and Kia †††Includes Nissan Division and Infiniti ‡Tata Motors includes Jaguar and Land Rover as of June 1, 2008 ‡‡Includes Toyota Division, Lexus and Scion ‡‡‡Includes VW, Audi and Bentley Reprinted from Automotive News.

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