GM rode strong truck sales to a 7 percent sales increase in April.
After going through the big chill this past winter, automakers entered a spring thaw in April, makers reporting some of the strongest sales results they’ve seen in months.
Industry analysts suggest a variety of factors may be working in the industry’s favor. For one thing, April marked the start of the traditional automotive buying season, likely getting a bit of a nudge as motorists snowed in by the Polar Vortex finally headed for showrooms.
Key automakers, including Nissan and Chrysler, even a General Motors battered by recalls, posted sales gains for the month. And though Ford did report a modest 1% decline, Toyota is reporting a 13.3% increase.
Nissan's April sales were up more than 18%. Altima helped to lead the charge for the Japanese maker.
“Sales momentum from March rolled into April pushing the industry to its best back-to-back monthly sales pace since fall of 2007,” said Bill Fay, Toyota division group vice president and general manager.
Though a handful of manufacturers have yet to report in, it looks as if April will have delivered a Seasonally Adjusted Average Rate, o SAAR, of 16.2 million, slightly better than many had anticipated, and a big jump from the 15.5 million vehicles sold for all of 2013.
One of the big surprises for the month was General Motors’ 7% year-over-year increase. There had been speculation the maker might see a fall-off in demand due to the huge number of recalls announced during the first quarter, about 7 million, including 2.6 million involved in a delayed recall for faulty ignition switches linked to 13 deaths.
But industry data suggests consumers have been distinguishing between GM and the company’s various brands, such as Chevrolet. “We haven’t seen any impact” from the recalls, GM President Dan Ammann said recently, a position backed up by a new study by data firm Kelley Blue Book.
Significantly, while GM fleet sales were up 5%, retail sales – vehicles sold to individual buyers – jumped 8% in April. GM expects to increase its retail market share from March, GM executives said, once all manufacturers weigh in with their latest sales figures.
Looking at the industry as a whole, “Retail demand was steady in April, and truck sales and transaction prices were especially strong,” said Kurt McNeil, U.S. vice president of Sales Operations. “As we expected, the economy continues to strengthen. In addition, our award-winning new products are performing well, we have more on the way and our dealers are winning accolades for outstanding service.
Chrysler Group reported a 14% increase compared with sales in April 2013 — marking the best April sales since 2007 for the American side of the recently merged Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. It was Chrysler’s 49th consecutive month of sales gains, and its Jeep brand topped the April performance with a 52% gain.
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Chrysler's Jeep brand helped the maker to a 49th consecutive month of increased sales in April.
Nissan Group set an April U.S. record with 103,934 vehicles sold, an increase of 18.3% over the prior year. Nissan Division also set an April record, up 18.5% at 94,764. This marks a monthly record for Nissan division in 13 of the last 14 months. Infiniti sales were up 16.9 percent.
“As the spring selling season kicked into high gear, Nissan maintained its strong momentum with our best-ever April sales and monthly sales records for important models like Altima, Rogue, Versa, LEAF and Juke,” said Fred Diaz, senior vice president for Nissan U.S. Sales and Marketing and Aftersales.
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Ford Motor Co. reported a 1% sales drop but attributed it to a reduction in sales to rental fleets. On the positive side, demand surged for the maker’s truck products, the F-Series pickup and Explorer SUV posting their best April sales in nearly a decade, with demand for the Fusion midsize sedan also strong.
John Felice, Ford vice president of sales, said the important news during April, was the steady improvement in the U.S. economy and consumer sentiment. “It’s been a nice sign seeing the recovery in the industry,” said Felice, who also noted that incentives have been relatively modest as the spring season got underway.
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Volkswagen of America continued to struggle to reverse its own, steady downturn. The German maker reported an 8.4% rcent decline for April as sales of the Golf dried up. One bright note was that sales of the Passat increased by 2.7% in the midsized segment where competition has been intense and pressure from mid-sized utilities has been intense.
VW officials are hoping that they’ll be able to reverse their nearly year-long slump in the months ahead as they launch a new version of the Golf.
While sales were up, so too were average transactions prices (ATP), according to Kelley Blue Book. The ATP for new vehicles increased by $389 (up 1.2%) from April 2013, while decreasing $47 (0.1%) from last month.
“Continuing their slow and steady increase, transaction prices are on the rise, but in conjunction with incentive spend, which forces them to offset one another,” said Karl Brauer, senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book. “Aided by the new high-volume Corolla, Toyota is showing the greatest year-over-year gains, up 4% from this time last year. The Highlander is another strong performer, up 6.1% from 2013, in addition to the strength of the Tacoma and redesigned Tundra.”
(Paul A. Eisenstein contributed to this report.)