Detroit Three lose market share
Toyota, Honda on the rise
September was a banner sales month for the Canadian auto industry, but it also shed light on the Detroit Three’s shrinking slice of the new vehicles market.
According to statistics by DesRosiers Automotive Reports, Chrysler Group, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors year-to-date market share was 45.1 per cent, down from 48.1 per cent in September 2011.
Meanwhile, other carmakers increased their year-to-date share of the new vehicle sales to 54.9 per cent, from 51.9 per cent. Of the major carmakers, Toyota was up by 21.6 per cent and Honda was up 21.0 per cent.
“Collectively the Detroit Three captured only 43.1 per cent of the market (in September), which is near their historical low market share for any one month,” said Dennis DesRosiers, Toronto-based industry analyst. “If this holds for the year, the Detroit Three will have given away all of the market share gained due to government assistance, the Toyota recalls and the natural disasters in Japan and Thailand.”
While GM sales rose 11.6 per cent in September, Ford was down eight per cent and Chrysler was up slightly, by 1.4 per cent.
Detroit brands were collectively up 0.3 per cent last month compared with the same period last year, while other nameplates were up by 11.6 per cent. “This continues a yearlong issue where Detroit nameplates are totally flat with all the growth on the import side of the market,” said DesRosiers.
The overall Canadian market rose 6.4 per cent in September, due mostly to sales of passenger cars. “Such a strong September means that year-end sales in Canada will approach 1.7 million units — not a record, but a good starting point for record Canadian sales in 2013,” said DesRosiers. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate in September was 1.71 million units, very close to a decade-long high, he added.
The passenger car side of the market was up 15 per cent last month while the light truck side was flat. “This explains some of the under-performance of Detroit brands last month,” said DesRosiers. “Detroit product portfolios are much stronger on the light truck side of the market than the car side, so when passenger cars sell well the import brands show better performance.”