By The Numbers

December 2013: Whimpering In The New Year Edition

After a particularly bullish November, the holiday season saw automakers reporting relatively unimpressive sales numbers to finish off the year. In particular, industry giants General Motors and Toyota ended 2013 with a bit of a whimper. After being treated to volume rising by 13.70 percent in November, GM recorded a decline of 6.34 percent in December, earning a last-place finish. Toyota fell by 1.7 percent for the month after gaining more than 10 percent last time out, and was again outsold by Ford and GM.

Industry giants General Motors and Toyota ended 2013 with a bit of a whimper.

In general, volumes leveled off during December, hampered in some part, no doubt, by wintery weather almost everywhere in the country that threatened to keep dealerships nearly empty for days at a time. Volkswagen and Volvo repeated their chart-bottoming finishes from November, albeit with slightly less-pointed declines in year-over-year volume, and in reverse order: Volvo dropped 20.52 percent, and VW 22.70.

Chrysler Group, which lead the way for Detroit Three automakers in November with a 16.08-percent volume bump, saw a more modest jump of 5.67 percent this past month.

There were a few successes to be had, however. Jaguar Land Rover continued to top the list of companies with positive growth, scoring a rise of 17.44 percent, albeit on a comparatively tiny volume of 7,308 units sold. Subaru capped off an amazing year of growth as well, with a nice year-over-year jump of 9.60 percent in December. That number pales somewhat to the 30- and 40-percent gains Subie was seeing earlier in 2013, but it's still a nice little stocking stuffer.

Check out all of December's sales figures in the chart below, and look for our full 2013 By The Numbers wrap-up next week.




*Brands and companies are displayed in descending order according to their percentage change in volume sales. There were 25 selling days in December 2013 and 26 selling days in December 2012, so there is a difference between the change in monthly sales volume and the change in average daily sales rate (DSR) for each brand/company. Also, brands are combined and reported as companies only if their sales figures are released jointly.

Share This Photo X