Red-hot Jeep drives March sales jump
GM, Ford, Subaru also rise as Hyundai falters
Jeep took its go-anywhere spirit to dealer showrooms, showing a blistering increase in sales.
But Hyundai is still trying to find some traction.
As Americans deepen their love of sport-utility vehicles, automakers felt the effect when it came to March sales. Collectively, they reported an unexpectedly strong month amid strong consumer confidence despite stock market volatility.
Sales of new vehicles jumped 6% for March, compared with a year earlier, according to Autodata. That easily out- paced analysts’ forecasts, such as the
3% increase from Edmunds.com and
2.6% increase from Cox Automotive. For the month, the traditional Detroit
3 automakers had strong sales based almost exclusively on their SUVs, crossovers and pickups.
General Motors recorded a surprising
15.7% increase, far outpacing expectations. Ford Motor was up 3.5%, and Fiat Chrysler rose 13.6%.
Among the Japanese automakers, Toyota was up 3.5%, Nissan declined
3.7%, Honda rose 3.8% and Subaru continued its hot sales streak with a 5.9% increase.
Wild swings in stock prices, higher gasoline prices and higher interest rates weren’t enough to keep car buyers out of the showroom.
“March is certainly coming in like a lion,” said Charlie Chesbrough, senior economist for Cox Automotive. “It appears that buyers are shrugging off some of the more negative news we’re seeing out there.”
Look no further than Jeep. The Fiat Chrysler SUV brand is red-hot. Sales rose 44.7% in March as the Wrangler, Cherokee and Compass SUVs all posted huge increases.
On the flip side, Korean automotive brand Hyundai’s slump is worsening. Without enough SUVs and crossover models, the passenger-car-heavy brand lacks appeal.
Hyundai sales tumbled 11.2% for the month.
To be sure, the encouraging March sales rate may not be sustainable for the full year. Analysts expect overall U.S. auto sales to fall in 2018 after 2017 snapped two consecutive years of record sales.
Rebecca Lindland, executive analyst at Cox Automotive, said consumers may be purchasing vehicles sooner than expected to qualify for low finance rates before interest rates head even higher later this year.
Still, automakers are healthy and are benefiting from an industrywide transition from passenger cars to bigger and more profitable vehicles.
Customers are paying handsomely for bigger vehicles, which is padding the bottom line. For the industry, buyers paid an average of $35,285 in March, up 2% from a year earlier, according to Kelley Blue Book.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Mark LaNeve, Ford’s vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service, said on a conference call.