By The Numbers - September 2009: Post C4C, We're All Alright Edition
by John Neff on Oct 1st 2009 at 5:04PM 
Here it is, the first full month of sales after the government's popular Cash for Clunkers has ended. The expected result – that auto sales would plummet once the feds stopped handing out free money in exchange for clunkers – didn't exactly happen. Nine brands posted positive sales in September versus the same period in 2008 with another three posting single-digit losses. Of course, there were automakers that dropped right back into the cellar, including General Motors (-44.98 percent) and Chrysler LLC (-42.06 percent). General Motors, however, is in the process of shrinking, shedding brands and dealers left and right, so its sub-par performance will be par for the course for a while. Chrysler LLC, however, apparently just can't compete with its dated products.
The Koreans have once again remained remarkably popular, with Hyundai sales up an incredible 27.24 percent and Kia enjoying a 24.39-percent rise. Subaru, which can usually be found on the sales podium along with the Koreans, fell back a bit but still managed a 0.70 percent increase. Ford, meanwhile, continues to out play its cross town rivals and delivered a decent -5.08 percent drop for the entire company and -4.06 percent fall for the Ford brand itself. The Blue Oval's September sales performance even bests its competition from Japan with Toyota (-12.65 percent), Honda (-20.07 percent) and Nissan (-7.0 percent) all down more.
Check out how the rest of the industry performed in the chart below.
NOTE: Audi not yet reported.
Brands and companies are both displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 25 selling days in September 2009 and 24 selling days in September 2008, so the change in monthly sales volume will be different than the change in the average daily sales rate for each brand/company.
| Brand | Volume % | 9/09 | 9/08 | DSR*% | DSR 9/09 | DSR 9/08 |
| Hyundai | 27.24 | 31,511 | 24,765 | 22.15 | 1,260 | 1,032 |
| Kia | 24.39 | 21,623 | 17,383 | 19.42 | 865 | 724 |
| Volvo | 16.33 | 4,716 | 4,054 | 11.68 | 189 | 169 |
| Lexus | 11.80 | 17,939 | 16,045 | 7.33 | 718 | 669 |
| Mini | 9.73 | 4,128 | 3,762 | 5.34 | 165 | 157 |
| Porsche | 8.44 | 1,581 | 1,458 | 4.10 | 63 | 61 |
| BMW | 2.06 | 15,047 | 14,744 | -2.03 | 602 | 614 |
| Volkswagen | 1.46 | 17,358 | 17,109 | -2.60 | 694 | 713 |
| Subaru | 0.70 | 14,593 | 14,491 | -3.32 | 584 | 604 |
| Ford | -4.06 | 98,516 | 102,685 | -7.90 | 3,941 | 4,279 |
| Nissan | -5.80 | 48,783 | 51,786 | -9.57 | 1,951 | 2,158 |
| Cadillac | -8.79 | 11,339 | 12,432 | -12.44 | 454 | 518 |
| Mercedes-Benz | -9.55 | 16,985 | 18,779 | -13.17 | 679 | 782 |
| Mazda | -11.97 | 14,234 | 16,169 | -15.49 | 569 | 674 |
| Infiniti | -15.03 | 6,610 | 7,779 | -18.43 | 264 | 324 |
| Toyota | -15.71 | 108,076 | 128,215 | -19.08 | 4,323 | 5,342 |
| Mercury | -15.98 | 5,443 | 6,478 | -19.34 | 218 | 270 |
| Honda | -19.23 | 69,970 | 86,629 | -22.46 | 2,799 | 3,610 |
| Jeep | -19.34 | 17,287 | 21,431 | -22.56 | 691 | 893 |
| Lincoln | -21.01 | 5,980 | 7,571 | -24.17 | 239 | 315 |
| Acura | -27.39 | 7,259 | 9,997 | -30.29 | 290 | 417 |
| Buick | -33.04 | 9,455 | 14,121 | -35.72 | 378 | 588 |
| Mitsubishi | -36.13 | 4,712 | 7,378 | -38.69 | 188 | 307 |
| Chevrolet | -40.66 | 102,538 | 172,803 | -43.04 | 4,102 | 7,200 |
| Dodge | -42.68 | 35,864 | 62,572 | -44.98 | 1,435 | 2,607 |
| Pontiac | -52.50 | 11,079 | 23,324 | -54.40 | 443 | 972 |
| GMC | -52.96 | 18,359 | 39,029 | -54.84 | 734 | 1,626 |
| Smart | -54.22 | 814 | 1,778 | -56.05 | 33 | 74 |
| Suzuki | -54.42 | 1,861 | 4,083 | -56.24 | 74 | 170 |
| Chrysler | -61.25 | 9,046 | 23,346 | -62.80 | 362 | 973 |
| Saab | -72.58 | 484 | 1,765 | -73.67 | 19 | 74 |
| Hummer | -81.46 | 426 | 2,298 | -82.20 | 17 | 96 |
| Saturn | -83.85 | 2,993 | 18,528 | -84.49 | 120 | 772 |
| COMPANIES | ||||||
| BMW Group | 3.62 | 19,175 | 18,506 | -0.53 | 767 | 771 |
| Ford Motor Company | -5.08 | 114,655 | 120,788 | -8.87 | 4,586 | 5,033 |
| Nissan North America | -7.00 | 55,393 | 59,565 | -10.72 | 2,216 | 2,482 |
| Toyota Mo Co | -12.65 | 126,015 | 144,260 | -16.14 | 5,041 | 6,011 |
| Honda America | -20.07 | 77,229 | 96,626 | -23.27 | 3,089 | 4,026 |
| Chrysler Group LLC | -42.06 | 62,197 | 107,349 | -44.38 | 2,488 | 4,473 |
| General Motors | -44.89 | 156,673 | 284,300 | -47.10 | 6,267 | 11,846 |
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
BigMcLargeHuge 5:09PM (10/01/2009)
I don't see Audi on the list.
Reply
audi_arena 7:13PM (10/01/2009)
Seriously... in the Import High Group we have been up all year...
nony 7:40PM (10/01/2009)
Looks like they finally posted numbers:
http://www.audiusanews.com/newsrelease.do?id=1544
chris 8:05PM (10/01/2009)
For that matter the VAG isn't on the companies list either. It's number two in the world and was number one for a short period earlier in the year.
zamafir 8:41PM (10/01/2009)
seriously chris? do we really need to go over this EVERY month?
Vizel 12:12AM (10/02/2009)
Hyundai & Kia
"I'm in your market, stealing your salez"
eiceman 9:18AM (10/02/2009)
John Neff! How could you possibly say that the market has not plummeted after 41% of overal sales drop compared to the month of Aug(1,262,189units)?
I'm very curious in what term of "Market did not plummeted" did you use.
Were you expecting 50-60% of sales drop? yet 40% is not bad.... Is that what you
infer?
Hyundai and Kia also have lost 47% of sales compared to Aug, and lost their market share 0.6% last month.
I'm confused.... Somebody explain this to me please...
montoym 1:10PM (10/02/2009)
@ eiceman:
I'll try to explain a bit. I admit though that my explanation doesn't cover everything but it might give you some food for thought.
You can't usually directly compare one month to the following month and expect the sales to be similar. Auto sales rise and fall throughout the year for various reasons. Much like you can't compare the December sales of a store with its January sales and expect the January sales to continue on the same path as the December sales. There are of course reasosn for why retail sales climb at during some times of the year and fall during others and that's expected each year.
Auto sales are similar, summertime often brings in the most sales, not to mention the end of model year sales many dealers offer at the end of the summer in preperation for the new models.
This is one reason why the August sales may be higher than the September sales on a regular basis. Ading C4C into the mix clouds the issue, and I'm sure there is some hangover there, but how much of it is due to C4C (or the lack thereof), and how much is due to normal seasonal fluctuations, is debatable.
Not to mention that the current economy has made comparisons to previous year's data that much more difficult as well.
Greg 1:45PM (10/03/2009)
Audi:
-4.9 for Sep.
Wobbly_ears 5:42PM (10/01/2009)
Hyundai & Kia seem to be on a roll even in these tough times!
Good showing! Maybe GM & Chrysler can learn from them & see that even a tattered image can be resuscitated with hard work & consistency.
Reply
l.i.dave 6:15PM (10/01/2009)
GM still sells 3 times as many vehicles as Kia and Hyundia combined. Try to keep things in perspective.
Moron reply" "Well if they keep it up they won't I hate myself I mean GM."
com 6:31PM (10/01/2009)
@l.i. dave
Well do you see any GM brands gaining sales?
Luis 7:45PM (10/01/2009)
"Cheap" brands do well in crappy economic times. McDonald's, WalMart...Hyundai. They thrive when people are looking for something cheap.
Conundrum 8:36PM (10/01/2009)
What percentage is rental & fleet sales?
Without searching, I would imagine the sale to rental/ fleet agencies is up vs. last year.
Kreator 8:38PM (10/01/2009)
""Cheap" brands do well in crappy economic times. McDonald's, WalMart...Hyundai. They thrive when people are looking for something cheap."
mazda, mercury, mitsubishi, suzuki, chrysler are doing so well.
Luis 9:40PM (10/01/2009)
Mazda and Mercury are not "cheap" brands. Chrysler is in the hole for it's own reasons. Mitsu and Suzuki also have their own structural problems.
TiSE7 9:41PM (10/01/2009)
"Cheap brands"? You mean like Volvo, Lexus, BMW and Porsche near the top of the list?
Aznauto 5:19PM (10/01/2009)
At this rate Chrysler will be lucky if it survives till 2011.
Reply
Tom 5:38PM (10/01/2009)
And Toyota/GM will be lucky if Ford isn't #1 by then. For Sept 09 MTD vs Sept 08 MTD, they picked up almost 3% market share. And 2009 CYTD? Up one whole percentage point market share. They only lag Toyota 60k units TYD, which is about a half a month of sales. We'll be looking at a different landscape soon enough...
Tom 5:56PM (10/01/2009)
My automotive team power rankings will be out later today... I'm thinking of ranking Hyundai first because of the leadership of their CEO and their depth at skill positions, specifically design and manufacture. In looking at next month's matchup, I'm seeing more of the same issues as far as going up against the stalwart defense Ford and Toyota bring to the table, but ultimately their offense may seize the day.
Really I didn't have a point, but now that you mention it, GM should be scared. Toyota, maybe not. In the end though, the goal of all of these companies is to provide value to their owners. Since Ford and Toyota are both partially family and publicly owned, their value depends on market share. If they lose market share, their value to their owners goes down. Should they be scared? What do I know? Probably not much, but I know enough to not be put off by someone who consistently bashes commenters on this site. If you'll excuse me, I have to go pick up Brent Celek and drop Donnie Avery.