Ford was king-of-the-hill in March, outselling cross-town rival GM for only the second time since 1998 thanks to models like the new Explorer.
While March delivered more good news for the auto industry, General Motors took an unexpected shot from its cross-town rival, Ford Motor Co. outselling the domestic giant for only the second time since 1998.
More significantly, Ford was able to best its Big Three rival without GM being crippled by bankruptcy. When the tables were turned, in February 2010, General Motors was still struggling to dust itself off after emerging from Chapter 11 protection the previous summer.
The race was nonetheless close, Ford dealers reporting sales of 212,777 cars, trucks and crossovers last month, a 19% gain, compared to 206,621 for GM, which was up 11%.
But GM still had some numbers to crow about. For the full first quarter, its sales totaled 592,545, compared to 496,720 for Ford.
Meanwhile, GM officials stressed that their retail business grew by 17% in March – and 38% for the entire quarter — a key measure for industry watchers, as sales to individual motorists tend to yield higher profits than fleet business, especially daily rental companies.
Domestic makers have often relied on those rent-a-car companies to absorb excess production, but the Big Three have all insisted they are trying to better match factory output to real world demand, and during the latest quarter, GM revealed fleets accounted for just 24% of its overall U.S. volume. That was down from 30% during the first three months of 2010.
Notably, both makers were able to keep momentum going even though they trimmed back on incentive spending. The average GM vehicle carried rebates and other givebacks of $3,109 in March, down about 17% from February, and about 2% lower than March 2010, according to estimates by TrueCar.com.
By comparison, Ford invested $2,740 in incentives per vehicle, down nearly 10% on a year-over-year basis – but up about 8%, nearly $200, from February.
“Due to improving consumer demand and lower supply, automakers were less reliant on incentives to move metal ,” said TrueCar analyst Jesse Toprak, “a trend we expect to continue in the coming weeks.”
Another key metric shows GM having nudged up by 0.3% the average transaction price – what customers actually pay – on a year-over-year basis. The March ATP was $34,052 for the biggest of the domestic makers.
Ford’s average transaction price increased 1.7%, to $31,862.
Not all went well for Ford last month. The maker’s well-recognized Taurus model posted a 15% drop in demand, while the Lincoln division was down 2.2%. But Ford’s overall increase also came despite the recent abandonment of its long-struggling Mercury division.
As for the smallest and most troubled of the domestic automakers, Chrysler reported a solid 31% gain for March in overall volume. Chrysler incentives dropped nearly 11% year-over-year, to $3,181 per vehicle, while its average transaction price increased 2.3% during the same period, though it lagged its cross-town rivals, according to TrueCar, at $28,587.