GM comes up short in February as Ford, Fiat Chrysler sales soar
With its big gain, Fiat Chrysler posted its 71st consecutive month of yearover-year U.S. sales growth.
The auto industry shivered its way to mixed results in February, although some automakers, such as Ford Motor and Fiat Chrysler, posted solid gains.
General Motors’ U.S. sales fell 1.5% in February, but Ford was up 20.4% and Fiat Chrysler saw a 12% increase.
Japan’s big three — Toyota, Honda and Nissan — were up as well.
Volkswagen reported a 13.2% drop in sales as it continues to deal with fallout from admission about rigging diesel cars to beat emissions tests. At present, it is not selling any one of its diesel models.
The month started slow on the sales front but picked up as it went on, says Judy Wheeler, sales vice president for Nissan in the U.S.
Some potential buyers apparently dallied in their car-buying decisions as they weighed a slew of economic and political news but “now they are re-engaged in making decisions,” she says.
General Motors says while its overall sales were down slightly, it saw a healthy 7% gain in sales to individual customers, the one-at-a-time sales that are the most profitable.
Ford not only posted a big sales overall gain, but some of its biggest increases were in one of the most profitable categories — crossover SUVs, which surged 29.2%.
“We saw a solid industry last month and a strong month for Ford as customer demand for our newest vehicles — including new high-end series on Explorer and Edge — helped Ford increase its average transaction prices at almost double the industry average,” said Mark LaNeve, Ford vice president for U.S. marketing.