Latest auto sales winners and losers

Here are the latest official sales numbers on some of the most popular brands, that we cover here at Autospies.com

Check out the winners and the losers.

Full report here

Are there any insights hidden in these numbers that our readers should know about?

We'd love to hear your opinions...

swizzle - 8/5/2004 9:47:40 PM

+1 Boost

Wow! Jul '04 Year-To-Date Sales for...
S-Class: Down 12% vs. Jul '03 YTD.
7-Series: Down 16%
Audi A8/S8: Up 112%
The times they are a changin'

MercBasher - 8/6/2004 5:47:36 AM

+1 Boost

Sure there are insights:

MB sales year-to-date are flat

Infiniti, BMW, Lexus, Acura (and Cadillac which are not shown) sales year-to-date are up substantially.

This is despite MB's ever increasing model line-up. The customer is starting to wake-up.

Also not shown, M-Bs worldwide sales. Guess what in July they collapsed.

Congrats to all the auto makers who are making attractive reliable models and gaining share in the luxury market.

VISO - 8/6/2004 11:33:24 PM

+1 Boost

Audi is the leading premiem marquee in China in terms of sales and presence. Audi has been in China for a very long time.

Audi has little presence in Japan and Korea though.

MercBasher - 8/7/2004 12:44:56 PM

+1 Boost

Automotive News reports the following (i.) January to July sales for the US in 2004, and (ii.) percent changes from the same period in 2003.

163,292 Lexus, 16%
147,313 BMW, 4%
129,912 Cadillac, 15%
122,130 Mercedes, (minus 2%)
113,795 Acura, 17.1%
81,219 Volvo, 2.7%
74,672 Infiniti, 12.6%
44,991 Audi, (minus 8.3%)
28,051 Jaguar, (minus 5.9%)
22,888 Saab, (minus 20.7%)
18,533 Land Rover, (minus 12.4%)
18,415 Porsche, 16.8%

You're sure to note that in the US marketplace this year, the Europeans are all declining, or flat(BMW, Volvo) except Porsche which is now a truck company (trucks outsell cars at Porsche in the US). Contrast this with the Japanese luxury brands and Cadillac which are all up big (over 10%) in the US this year - and gaining market share in a growing luxury marketplace.

MercBasher - 8/7/2004 12:57:52 PM

+1 Boost

Look for additional market share losses from the Europeans Brands over the next year or so. They may be bringing new product to market, but they'll probably ramp up production slowly (to try and manage reliability issues) the slow ramp up will not be enough to compensate for the plant change-over lost production.

Under the Bush Presidency the value of the dollar has collapsed - at some stage the Euro Brands will have to raise prices substantially - because there's a limit to how much hedging they could have done when the dollar was stronger.

A few years down the line, expect vehicles such as BMW 3 Series and Mercedes C and E class to be made in the US, Canada or Mexico. Please note this is a common sense prediction not a guarantee.