The new VW Passat helped the maker score a nearly 50% sales gain in January.
With Volkswagen and Chrysler Group leading the way, the U.S. auto industry is off to a good start for 2012, a number of key analysts upping their forecasts for the full-year.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate, or SAAR for the new vehicle market appears to have hit 13.5 million units in January providing support for predictions that 2012 will be another year of growth in the automobile industry. While General Motors went into negative territory, the overall automotive market saw significant gains, some makers — including Audi — reporting best-ever sales.
Chrysler reported U.S. sales of 101,149, a 44% increase compared with sales in January 2011 (70,118 units), the group’s best January sales since 2008. It also marked the maker’s 22nd consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains and eighth-consecutive month of sales increases of at least 20%.
Toyota is scoring with the new Camry.
The Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, and Ram Truck brands each posted sales gains in January, led by the Chrysler brand’s hardy 81% increase. Chrysler Group has beaten the industry average sales increase in each of the last 11 months.
“We started the new year with a bang by growing sales 44%,” said Reid Bigland, President and CEO – Dodge Brand and Head of U.S. Sales.
Ford Motor Company announced a 7% increase versus year-ago levels. The Ford brand totaled 131,589 vehicles in January, making it the best January sales month for the Ford brand since 2008, Ford officials said.
“January started off with solid sales versus year-ago levels,” said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service. “Ford saw the same solid month, with smaller vehicles in higher demand. Escape continued its record-setting run, and Focus set the pace for car sales in California, Texas and the Southeast.”
Volkswagen of America, Inc. reported 27,209 units sold in January, a 47.9% increase over prior year sales.
“We ended 2011 strong and are seeing the momentum continue into 2012 with a 47.9% increase, demonstrating our growth strategy continues to take root,” said Jonathan Browning, President and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
The Passat continues to gain steam with 6,318 units for the month of January 2012.
Led by remarkable strong sales of the new Impreza, Subaru of America also posted a double digit sales increase for January.
The big surprise came from General Motors Co., which reported a 6% drop in sales during January due to weaker demand for light trucks and crossovers.
“Chevrolet drove our performance once again and sales of our fuel-efficient new cars were especially good,” and Don Johnson, vice president, U.S. Sales Operations. “The strength that the economy and the auto industry showed in the fourth quarter carried into January, so we believe the year is off to a good start,” Johnson said, despite the maker’s weak performance last month.
While GM was down, its Japanese arch-rival Toyota finally regained some positive momentum after a year of frustrating setbacks that included production cuts caused by Japan’s March earthquake and subsequent flooding in Thailand.
The Japanese giant said sales rose 7.5% on a daily basis, with both its mainstream Toyota and highline Lexus marques in positive territory. For the Toyota brand, the driving force was the newly updated 2012 Camry and Camry hybrid, the midsize model 55.9% year-over-year gain. The Prius hybrid family, meanwhile, saw sales jump 8.7%, in large part with the addition of the new Prius V a larger version of the original Prius liftback.
With the exception of GM, the month proved strong almost across the board, VW’s Audi division reporting the best month ever for its U.S. operations.
The continuing momentum of recent months is leading many analysts to revise their sales forecasts upwards. Rod Lache, of Deutsche Bank, now has bumped his 2012 sales and production forecasts north by as much as 800,000 units, nearing the 14 million mark.
Paul A. Eisenstein contributed to this report.