February 2008 will go down as the ugliest sales month ever in the history of By the Numbers posts. Out of the 35 brands we track, only four improved their daily average sales rate versus the same month last year: Honda (1.9%), Mazda (2.5%), Mercedes-Benz (3%) and our Biggest Winner, MINI (38.5%). Leap year is to blame, as the rare return of February 29th offered most automakers an extra to day to suck. The big companies themselves fared just as poorly, with every multi-brand automaker except for one down in February compared to last year. Only Honda America scraped together a positive month, increasing its daily average sales rate 0.7% overall.
NOTE: There were 25 selling days in February 2008 versus 24 selling days in February 2007. As such, all percentages represent the change in daily average sales rate rather than the difference in raw number of units sold.
Biggest Winner
MINI
38.5% at 3,415 (2/07: 2,368)Biggest Loser
Saturn
–36.1% at 14,801 (2/07: 22,225)BRANDS
Acura
–8.0% at 13,084 (2/07: 13,658)Audi
–10.6% at 6,152 (2/07: 6,609)BMW
–10.5% at 20,775 (2/07: 22,274)Buick
–18.9% at 12,768 (2/07: 15,108)Cadillac
–2.1% at 14,420 (2/07:14,142)Chevrolet
–14.7% at 166,166 (2/07: 187,088)Chrysler
–13.2% at 41,709 (2/07: 46,112)Dodge
–19.35 at 76,141 (2/07: 90,618)Ford
–8.9% at 164,915 (2/07: 173,794)GMC
–22.7% at 33,237 (2/07: 41,279)Honda
1.9% at 102,313 (2/07: 96,368)HUMMER
–22.7% at 3,362 (2/07: 4,177)Hyundai
–13.5% at 31,090 (2/07: 34,500)Infiniti
–0.4% at 10,068 (2/07: 9,704)Jaguar
–14.3% at 1,063 (2/07: 1,191)Jeep
–18% at 32,243 (2/07: 37,776)Kia
–10.2% at 21,988 (2/07: 23,512)Land Rover
–12.9% at 2,819 (2/07: 3,106)Lexus
–9.3% at 21,277 (2/07: 22,518)Lincoln
–14.6% at 9,573 (2/07: Mazda
2.5% at 23,548 (2/07: 22,060)Mercedes
3% at 18,564 (2/07: 17,304)Mercury
–25% at 10,806 (2/07: 13,843)MINI
38.5% at 3,415 (2/07: 2,368)Mitsubishi
–10.1% at 9,105 (2/07: 9,726)Nissan
–3.2% at 76,151 (2/07: 75,514)Pontiac
–6.5% at 23,935 (2/07: 24,563) Porsche
–16.3% at 1,715 (2/07: 1,967)Saab
–25% at 1,734 (2/07: 2,221)Saturn
–36.1% at 14,801 (2/07: 22,225)Subaru
–3.8% at 12,907 (2/07: 12,875)Suzuki
–1.6% at 8,800 (2/07: 8,585)Toyota
–6.3% at 160,892 (2/07: 164,812)Volkswagen
–2.9% at 16,556 (2/07: 16,367)Volvo
–14.8% at 7,505 (2/07: 8,453)COMPANIES
BMW Group
–5.8% at 24,190 (2/07: 24,642)Chrysler Group
–17.4% at 150,093 (2/07: 174,506)Ford Motor Co
–10.6% at 196,681 (2/07: 211,150)General Motors
–16.7% at 270,423 (2/07: 311,763)Honda America
0.7% at 115,397 (2/07: 110,026)Nissan North America
–2.9% at 86,219 (2/07: 85,218)Toyota Motor Co.
–6.6% at 182,169 (2/07: 187,330)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Bennet Pullen @ Mar 4th 2008 12:06PM
You guys get a point for the sucking leap day comment.
A A @ Mar 4th 2008 12:14PM
Infiniti's % should have gone up, not down.
dan spalinger @ Mar 4th 2008 12:18PM
Nope...they are measuring the daily sales rate...not # of vehicles sold...February had an extra sales day this year...and thus, though Infiniti sold more cars this year than last in the month, its daily sales rate still declined....
Tony @ Mar 4th 2008 12:18PM
So should have Nissan's when you just look at the above number but the calculations are based on DSR.... daily sales rate not volume. When the extra day for the month is factored in,even though the volume for the month appears up, the daily sales rate is down.
geo.stewart @ Mar 4th 2008 12:22PM
now see, no one thought you were illiterate or arithmetically challenged until you spoke up.
;-)
If you read the entire article, they include the details that the %s are based on daily averages based on selling days.
with this yr having 25 vs last yr 24; Infiniti sold 404.33 last yr each day vs 402.72 this yr each selling day. Nissan did a similar thing, as did suzuki and vw
It is confusing considering they give total sales numbers instead of daily averages that they are reporting on. Since AB is pulling this from somewhere else, dont think we can fault them that.
A A @ Mar 4th 2008 12:29PM
ahhh..didn't connect the dots- my bad!
Johnny Aero @ Mar 4th 2008 12:18PM
I own a SAAB, but looking at these numbers I wonder why the brand is still in existence?
Richard S. @ Mar 4th 2008 12:20PM
Saturn is a shocker. I guess the demise of the Ion cost Saturn some sales. But I would have thought that the new Astra would have picked up much of the slack, despite its higher price and especially since sales of small efficient cars are soaring. Is the Astra a dud or not enough inventory has arrived for sales to have an effect? Anyone knows how the Astra is faring? If it flops it would be a bad omen for bringing over the Corsa.
Mr. Oak @ Mar 4th 2008 12:37PM
Saturn has 2 basic problems.
1). Other than actual car enthuiasts, no one even knows that the Astra exists. I have actually never even seen one on the street. These cars will pick up in about a year when word finally gets out to the common folk.
Hell the ?? yr old Cobalt had its best year in '07
2). Lack of adequate number of Showrooms. I live is the largest car market in the US. North eastern US. (NY\NJ\CT). There are only 6 Saturn dealerships in this region. There are 25 GMC dealerships in the same area.
Judy Zik @ Mar 4th 2008 12:45PM
Way too telling. All the wannabe experts on this site going on about how everyone should bring over their euro models and they would be first in line. Well guess what GM did it and forget being first there isn't a line at all. Also interesting to note that the cars everyone around here dogs like the new Focus had big increases. Show's the gap between enthusiasts and the car buying public.
For contrast since Autoblog can't be bothered to write about them you can read the Canadian sales numbers here http://tinyurl.com/3bcm43
In a nutshell sales in Canada were up 14.3%!
GM up 14.5%
Cerbyler up 5.7%
Ford up 4.1%
Toyota up 26.2%!
Honda up 50%!
sk @ Mar 4th 2008 12:59PM
@Judy; Well Saturn does sell all of its imported Astra's. The problem is they can't get enough of them. In 07 they sold 3 times more Ions than they will import in Astra's during all of 08.
3cubed minus 3squared plus1 @ Mar 4th 2008 1:05PM
Mr. Oak is right.
Me and some friends went to see Vantage point and in the car chase Dennis Quaid drives a Chevy version of the same Astra car sold here. One of my friends said it'd be nice if they sold it here and when I told them they do he was stunned. Then I told told them it was sold as a Saturn and he started laughing. I guess not everyone wants a Saturn.
The good news here is that both Ford and Chevy outsold Toyota and that Saturn is the biggest loser.
brn @ Mar 4th 2008 3:09PM
Saturn shifted it's target audience and didn't bother to tell anyone. Go down to your local Saturn retailer (I did yesterday) and take a look around. Most Saturn buyers are looking for small, entry level, vehicles. They have only one, the Astra. No one knows the Astra exists.
If you're looking for a small economy car, Saturn's bread and butter, they don't have much to offer. You're better off at a Chevy dealer.
Bruno @ Mar 4th 2008 6:30PM
I suspect that the Saturn numbers are off because the economy is going south and people who are buying are walking in looking for deep discounts and rebates. Since Saturn doesn't "haggle" there may be a perception that they're not great bargains now. And from what I can see, their rebates are not spectacular compared to some of the overstocked cars of other brands out there.
Visited a Saturn dealer yesterday for the first time. I was appalled to see that this "straight up" brand had "sucker stickers" and dealer add-ons like pinstriping, undercoating, and paint protectant added that is of course, "non-negotiable". So some of these affordable cars may have $1,000 of worthless BS added on. That certainly doesn't help sales.
dan spalinger @ Mar 4th 2008 12:20PM
Clearly Toyota has hit a bump in its road to world domination...they have had a few down months in a row now...
TriShield @ Mar 4th 2008 12:27PM
Contrary to popular belief Saturn's Opel-styled lineup has not translated into a brand turnaround at all.
In fact new Saturn sales have been pretty bleek, including the Auru, the so-called North American Car of the Year. The Astra which is an actual Opel car will probably not be a sales success and won't do much to help Saturn's bottom line after losign the ultra crappy but ultra cheap ION.
Tagg @ Mar 4th 2008 2:36PM
On the bright side Saturn is getting conquest sales but most of them are from Chevy! They also don't replace the people who buy one Saturn and never buy another with a new customer.
YouFaceTheTick @ Mar 4th 2008 12:30PM
What the hell is Mini giving away? 38%?
Mr. Oak @ Mar 4th 2008 12:42PM
Don't be fooled by the percentage. Mini still sells less than 4000 cars per month.
I bet the bump came mostly from replacing their old Minis with the new one. In a few months, it'll take a dip.
YouFaceTheTick @ Mar 4th 2008 1:03PM
4000 a month is huge considering they only have two cars (that's including the new clubman).