The Honda Accord took over the top sales spot from the Toyota Camry in April.
As U.S. car sales continue to heat up in 2013, no segment is as hotly contested as the mid-size segment. If the offerings and efforts of carmakers and the April sales figures are any indicator the competition in that arena is only going to even more fierce.
For one thing, the Toyota Camry, the best-selling passenger car in the U.S. for the past decade, lost its edge in April as the Honda Accord took over the top spot after Camry sales fell 17% last month. Toyota still holds the top through the first place through the first four months of 2013 in what has been a healthy market for new cars during the past half year.
Toyota executives suggested part of the reason for the drop in Camry’s total was decision to pull back from fleet sales. Overall, Toyota sales dropped 1.1% in April.
Ford Fusion was a top-selling vehicle in the U.S. in April.
Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co. is making a made a determined bid as it has tightened its grip on third place with the Ford Fusion supplanting the Nissan Altima, which is also continuing to post solid sales increases. Sales of the mid-sized Chevrolet Malibu were essentially flat, but sales of Hyundai Sonata, one of the challenger brands in the segment declined last month as did sales of the Volkswagen Passat, which fell 10%. Overall, VW sales fell 10% in April.
Another challenger in the mid-sized segment, the all-new Mazda6, also appears to be having difficulty getting traction in a very crowded field. Meanwhile, the competition is expected to intensify.
“We are working harder than ever to keep pace with record demand for our all-new, fuel-efficient Fusion and Escape – with sales growth particularly strong on the coasts,” said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service.
Fusion sales increased 24% compared with record year-ago April levels, he added. The strongest retail sales increases for Fusion continue to come from the western and southeastern U.S. – areas where the Camry and Accord have always been strong. Sales in the West doubling in April and the Southeast up 70%, Ford officials said.
“While it was a challenging month, particularly in the compact and mid-size sedan segments, we remain solidly focused on our long term growth strategy,” said Jonathan Browning, president and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America. “In spite of segment challenges with robust competition, the Jetta sedan and Passat showed strength in April and so far this year.”
“There is still strong pent-up demand from consumers looking to purchase a new vehicle who have been on the sidelines waiting for at least a few years,” said Alec Gutierrez, senior market analyst for Kelley Blue Book. “As gas prices continue to decrease, especially during the summer season, transaction prices should raise as consumers look to purchase larger vehicles.”
With new car sales up almost 9% in April and sales rate running at more than 15 million units, luxury car sales also remained strong with Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche all touting sales records in April. The fight for the luxury sales crown between Mercedes and BMW also shows signs of intensifying.
(The Detroit Three post April sales gains. To read about it, Click Here.)
“This is the first time in history that Porsche has delivered more than 4,000 cars in one month in the United States, which can mainly be attributed to a very attractive and young model line-up,” said Detlev von Platen, president and CEO, Porsche Cars North America, Inc. “We are on track to have another very successful year, as long as the current U.S. economic situation continues to improve.”
(Click Here to read about MKZ’s improved sales results.)
General Motors’ Cadillac Division also posted a 34% sales increase and Lincoln, long an also ran in the luxury market, saw its sales climb 21% as Ford finally got the updated version of the MKZ launched.
“Stable consumer demand for new vehicles resulted in only minor changes in transaction prices and incentives spending in April,” said Jesse Toprak, senior analyst for TrueCar. “Ford posted the highest increase in transaction prices while Honda had the biggest drop in incentives spending compared to last year levels.”