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Whether consumers are gaining faith in the economy or other factors are at play, auto manufacturers are seeing increasing sales this year, including a 9.9 percent increase in their September numbers compared to the same month last year. Although it is uncertain the exact cause of the sales increase, there is a lot of interesting things that can be discerned from last month’s sales numbers. Thanks to Detroit News for breaking these down for us.
While total vehicle sales jumped 9.9 percent last month, full-size truck sales jumped an amazing 25.7 percent. The cause? Many manufactures offered steep discounts and unbeatable incentives on their truck models in September as they started making room for next year’s models. It just goes to show that Americans like their trucks, especially if they can get them for a good deal.
We’ve all heard the hype about small cars. While they were a popular trend when gas prices continued to rise, fewer people are buying small models as gas prices stabilize. Models like the Toyota Yaris, Hyundai Accent and the Chevy Aveo saw significant decreases in sales, proving small cars aren’t as big as they were once thought to be. Also not as popular are vehicles with alternative powertrains. Although many manufacturers are investing quite a chunk of money on creating and promoting their green vehicles, sales lag significantly behind ordinary models.
September sales also proved that Americans like buying American-made products. In September, domestic vehicle sales increased 16.9 percent from last year, allowing them to grab 48.1 percent of the market sales last month. Chrysler, one of the manufacturers adding to domestic sales, had sold 996,000 cars at the end of September, leading us to believe that it will sell over 1 million vehicles this year.
September also brought about some interesting sales comparisons. Ford ended up selling more F-Series trucks than Hyundai sold vehicles last month while Bently sold just as many vehicles as Chevrolet sold HHRs. While we love our modern American muscle cars, the Dodge Challenger, Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro sales all fell far short of Ford Ranger sales.
With October sales set to be calculated in a couple weeks, we can only wait to see if any of these observations remain true. We look forward to seeing just how much sales increase by the end of the year.
