? North American markets down by 20.6% in 2009
? Canada least affected (-10.8%); Mexico fares worst (-28.8%)
? Imported brands fare better than domestic vehicles
? Upper segment cars and small commercial vehicles hit hardest in sales decline
The new car market across North America suffered the full force of recession in 2009, with some worrying trends revealed in the latest figures supplied by world’s leading provider of automotive data and intelligence, JATO Dynamics.
Behind the headlines of US government intervention and “cash for clunkers” schemes, lies a shift in consumer demand that has hit upper segment cars and domestic US brands hardest.
Overall, 3,271,321 fewer new cars were bought in North America in 2009, than in 2008, with 12.6 million total sales.
Across the region, those brands weathering the storm best were lower volume imported marques, with Hyundai (+11.6 %) and Kia (+11.3%) increasing sales volumes. Other winners were Subaru (+15%) and Audi, which achieved 5.4% growth in H2, albeit with smaller volumes.
By contrast, the three biggest brands, Ford, Toyota and Chevrolet, ended the year 13.8%, 18.2% and 25.8% down respectively.
David Di Girolamo, Head of JATO Consult, said: “The recession of demand and simultaneous, sudden shift to smaller, more economical vehicles has been felt keenly across North America. This has created even more of an opportunity for those lower-volume, importing manufacturers who already offer such vehicles and puts even more pressure on the big, domestic auto makers.”
United States
With 2009 sales down by 2.8 million (21.2%), the top five models in the United States new car league were held by import brands, Toyota, Honda and Nissan, with the year’s best-selling car the Toyota Camry.
Domestic US brands still feature, but some have been hit hard by the recession – for example, the seventh-placed car, the Chevrolet Impala large sedan, whose sales dropped by 37.7%, vs. 2008.
Overall, US car and truck sales were down 20.5% and 22% respectively, with small and lower medium cars seeing smaller drops in demand, evidence of downsizing amongst those US customers buying new cars.
Canada
The Canadian market (2009 total sales: 1.5 million) fared better, dropping only 10.8%, with truck sales actually rising 3.6% in the second half of the year.
This was perhaps helped by the fact Canadian customers seem to prefer smaller cars, with the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Mazda3 heading the sales list.
More significantly however, truck sales in Canada grew through the second half of the year, with the Ford F150 topping the list, with total sales of 67,538, (+20.2%).
Mexico
The Mexican market fell below one million sales this year, having suffered the greatest percentage fall of 28.8%.
Overall, both truck and car sales fell, with even market-specific models such as Nissan Tsuru, experiencing a downturn. Some car models did buck this trend, with Seat Ibiza doing the best business, up 28.3%, with total 2009 sales of 10,419.
Volkswagen’s South American entry-level model, the Gol, has been an immensely popular addition to the Mexican market in 2009, selling 23,776 and could prove a future market leader.
Truck sales fared less well, headed by the Nissan Pickup. In further evidence of the sudden unpopularity of large SUVs, sales of the Ford Expedition more than halved, down 52.2%.
The above data is provided by JATO Consult, the company’s bespoke consulting service which offers customers access to its unique data and provides solutions and advice to meet a wide range of automotive business challenges. For more information visit www.jato.com, or email consult@jato.com.
