By the Numbers - February 2009: Wish It Were A Leap Year Edition

One more day in February wouldn't have done much to salvage yet another bad month of sales for the U.S. auto industry, but it wouldn't have hurt. All of the big automakers saw sales down around 40% or more last month compared to February 2008. Chrysler Co. (-44%), Ford Motor Company (-48.4%) and General Motors (-52.9%) again took the brunt of it, but Toyota (-39.8%), Honda (-38%) and Nissan (-37%) weren't far behind. This just goes to show that the argument about U.S. domestic automakers not selling what people want to buy is bogus, as people just aren't buying across the board.
That said, the same brands that sold well in January have pulled out another one in February. The Koreans both did relatively well with Hyundai down just 1.5% (its Daily Average Sales rate was up 2.6%) and Kia up 0.4% in sales. Subaru, meanwhile, was up a solid 1.4% in sales last month.

What are these brands doing that the others aren't? In Subaru's case, the redesigned Forester is selling like mad, up 107% last month with 5,978 units sold. Hyundai has an extra 1,263 units sold thanks to the all-new Genesis, but the Accent, Elantra and Entourage were all up, as well. Kia, meanwhile, got strong performances from the Amanti (!), Sorento and Sedona, as well as a 341 new Borregos sold last month. A combination of new models, attractive incentives and sales people who are better with the pitch than the next guy are probably all contributing to how well these brands are weathering the U.S. recession.

BY THE NUMBERS - February 2009
Brand	Vol. % Change	Total Sales 2/09	Total Sales 2/08	DSR % Change	Daily Avg. 2/09	Daily Avg. 2/08
Acura	-41.5%	7,659	13,084	-39.0%	319	523
Audi	-24.4%	4,653	6,152	-21.2%	194	246
BMW	-37.5%	12,979	20,775	-34.9%	541	831
Buick	-51.5%	6,196	12,768	-49.5%	258	511
Cadillac	-52.2%	4,666	9,760	-50.2%	194	390
Chevrolet	-54.5%	75,555	166,166	-52.6%	3,148	6,647
Chrysler	-62.8%	15,519	41,709	-61.2%	647	1,668
Dodge	-38.8%	46,590	76,141	-32.3%	1,941	3,046
Ford	-48.8%	84,422	164,915	-46.7%	3,518	6,597
GMC	-51.2%	16,204	33,237	-49.2%	675	1,329
Honda	-37.5%	63,916	102,313	-34.9%	2,663	4,093
HUMMER	-68.7%	1,053	3,362	-67.4%	44	134
Hyundai	-1.5%	30,621	31,090	2.6%	1,276	1,244
Infiniti	-36.8%	6,359	10,068	-34.2%	265	403
Jeep	-32.0%	21,941	32,243	-29.1%	914	1,290
Kia	0.4%	22,073	21,988	4.6%	920	880
Lexus	-38.4%	13,108	21,277	-35.8%	546	851
Lincoln	-41.2%	5,633	9,573	-38.7%	235	383
Mazda	-30.4%	16,401	23,548	-27.4%	683	942
Mercedes	-23.5%	14,199	18,564	-20.3%	592	743
Mercury	-44.6%	5,989	10,806	-42.3%	250	432
MINI	-17.2%	2,826	3,415	-13.8%	118	137
Mitsubishi	-50.8%	4,484	9,105	-48.7%	187	364
Nissan	-37.1%	47,890	76,151	-34.5%	1,995	3,046
Pontiac	-40.7%	14,200	23,935	-38.2%	592	957
Porsche	-11.5%	1,518	1,715	-7.8%	63	69
Saab	-62.8%	482	1,295	-61.2%	20	52
Saturn	-57.2%	6,338	14,801	-55.4%	264	592
Subaru	1.4%	13,089	12,906	5.6%	545	516
Suzuki	-60.3%	3,495	8,800	-58.6%	146	352
Toyota	-40.0%	96,475	160,892	-37.5%	4,020	6,436
VW	-17.5%	13,660	16,556	-14.0%	569	662
Volvo	-55.3%	3,356	7,505	-53.4%	140	300
COMPANIES
BMW Group	-34.7%	15,805	24,190	-31.9%	659	968
Chrysler LLC	-44.0%	84,050	150,093	-41.7%	3,502	6,004
FoMoCo	-48.4%	99,400	192,799	-46.3%	4,142	7,711
General Motors	-52.9%	127,296	270,423	-51.0%	5,304	10,817
Honda America	-38.0%	71,575	115,397	-35.4%	2,982	4,616
Nissan NA	-37.0%	54,249	86,219	-34.5%	2,260	3,449
Toyota Mo Co	-39.8%	109,583	182,169	-37.3%	4,566	7,287