Ford Fusion sales jumped 71% in of October while the automaker saw an overall increase of 13.9%.
Despite early concerns in the wake of the U.S. government shutdown, U.S. auto sales returned to form in October with most automakers reporting sales increases despite the 16-day stalemate in Washington early in the month.
With a few makers yet to report in, sales are expected rise between 11.7% and 13%, according to a variety of estimates. Most of the makers reported that sales were slow early in October, but began hopping after the issue was settled — at least temporarily.
The Detroit Three was led by General Motors Co. and its 16% increase over last October. The maker delivered 226,402 vehicles with Chevrolet, Cadillac and Buick-GMC performing well, according to Kurt McNeil, vice president, U.S. sales operations, in a statement.
Buick sales were up 31% in October with Regal leading the way with a 47% jump. GM was up 16% overall.
Buick increased 31%; Cadillac was up 10%; GMC rose 16%; and Chevrolet was up 15%. McNeil noted the sales tempo really picked up after the government shutdown ended, including increases in Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra, which posted increases of 10% and 13% respectively.
“We are particularly pleased with our truck momentum,” he said. “Chevrolet and GMC have the newest and best light duty trucks, sales are accelerating and we are gearing up for the second, third and fourth phases of our strategic truck plan.”
Chrysler Group with reported an 11% increase in October; it’s best October since 2007. The Ram pickup helped to lead the increase with a jump of 18% while the Dodge Durango, perhaps on the strength of its new spokesperson, Ron Burgundy, rose 59%.
Ford reported a 13.9% rise in auto sales in October from 142,487 units to 191,985. Fusion led the increase with a 71% jump, while the Fiesta saw a 9% increase. Both models set new October sales records. The F-Series continued its strong sales pace last month with sales of more than 60,000 units for the sixth consecutive month. The last time that kind of run occurred with 2006.
“October was simply an outstanding retail performance, as consumers continued to choose Ford for great fuel efficiency, styling and value at all levels of the market,” said John Felice, vice president, U.S. marketing, sales and service.
“The combination of great new products, such as Fusion and Escape, along with the strength of our dealers helped us achieve our best October retail sales month since 2004.”
Strong demand for the Ram pickup -- the 2014 diesel model shown here -- were up 18% in October.
Lincoln also saw a jump of 38% in October, led by MKZ sales of 2,909 vehicles: an increase of 80% over a year ago, leading the Lincoln brand to an overall increase of 38 percent. MKZ has now reported record sales for six of the last seven months.
Ford said the industry sold 1.26 million vehicles in October, which translates to a high 15 million seasonally adjusted annual sales rate: a 12% increase compared with year ago levels.
The post shutdown excitement for new vehicles certainly spilled over to other automakers, including Hyundai North America. After a few months of flat or lower sales, Hyundai sales jumped 7% in October from a year ago to a record 53,555, according to CEO John Krafcik. The Santa Fe crossover sales jumped 36%. Krafcik said in a tweet that the refreshed 2014 Sonata saw an increase of 18% and the 2014 Equus flagship premium sedan was up 14%.
Nissan Motor Co. set an October record with 91,018 units: up 14.2%. Nissan division also set a record with a jump of 15.4% to 81,866 while Infiniti sales totaled 9,152 for the month, up 4.5%.
However, Volkswagen didn’t enjoy the same success reporting sales of 28,129 units, which was down 18% in October. Jonathan Browning, president and CEO, said the shutdown did impact the maker in the first half of the month. Only the GTI and Beetle posted gains against the year-ago period.
(Nissan set a first half global sales record. For more, Click Here.)
In spite of the drop, Browning noted the company is on track to sell more than 400,000 vehicles in the U.S. for the second consecutive year – a feat accomplished only once before in the makers 40-year history in the U.S.
TrueCar, Inc., which provides new car pricing information, trends and forecasting, estimated today that the average transaction price (ATP) for light vehicles in the U.S. was $30,798 in October 2013, up $312 (1%) over October 2012; and up $206 (0.7%) from September 2013, the previous high mark for average transaction prices.
(Click Here to read about the rebound in October auto sales.)
Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen achieved record highs for their average transaction price in October.
“Expect to see incentives to jump in the fourth quarter — competition for market share will be fierce,” said Jesse Toprak, senior analyst for TrueCar. “Average transaction prices continue to hover around record levels thanks to the consumers’ demand for vehicles loaded up with options.”