U.S. auto sales rose by 5.1% last month and that is versus March of 2023. Incentives were a big part of the gain, as I’ve been telling you on the Car Pro Show. Incentive spending averaged roughly $3,150 per vehicle last month, versus just over $1,500 a year ago. Electric vehicles lead the way with incentives, some as much as $10,000. Even Tesla, immune from spending incentive money, spent over $6,200 last month. The EV incentives topped out with the Nissan Ariya at almost $16,000.
As I have been saying, hybrids and plug-in hybrids are the hot commodity right now with 37% of the Toyotas sold in the first quarter were electrified. Honda and Ford also saw big increases in their hybrid sales, and in an article below you’ll see Ford is further backing down on all-electrics and jumping on the hybrid bandwagon.
One surprise was pickup sales in the first quarter of this year were off for Ford and Ram. Ford trucks were down 10% from the first quarter of 2024, Ram was off 15%. Chevrolet and GMC truck sales rose slightly, but overall, full-sized trucks fell to under 12% of the market for the first time in 8 years. Rising truck prices, high interest rates, and a slowdown in new construction is likely the reason for the decline.
In total sales for the first three months of 2024, the order of volume was quite different than we are used to seeing. General Motors led the way, with Toyota coming in second, and Ford coming in third. This in spite of Chevrolet being off a little over 2% from Q1 2023. In numbers I continue to watch, Hyundai brand was up again, but Kia was down for the fourth straight month. That is a head scratcher for your friendly content provider.
Here are your winners and losers for the first quarter of 2024, by brand:
| Manufacturer | Q1 2024 | vs Q1 2023 |
1. Toyota |
486,687 |
21% |
2. Ford |
479,921 |
6% |
3. Chevrolet |
385,585 |
2% |
4. Honda |
303,451 |
21% |
5. Nissan |
238,831 |
8% |
6. Hyundai |
184,804 |
1% |
7. Kia |
179,622 |
2% |
8. Jeep |
157,039 |
2% |
9. Subaru |
152,996 |
7% |
10. GMC |
124,378 |
2% |
11. Mazda |
100,103 |
13% |
12. Ram |
95,308 |
26% |
13. BMW |
84,475 |
2% |
14. Volkswagen |
82,101 |
21% |
15. Lexus |
78,471 |
15% |
16. Mercedes-Benz |
66,570 |
13% |
17. Buick |
44,385 |
16% |
18. Audi |
44,228 |
16% |
19. Dodge |
42,948 |
16% |
20. Cadillac
|
35,451 |
2% |
21. Chrysler |
34,807 |
9% |
22. Volvo |
30,951 |
17% |
23. Acura |
30,373 |
9% |
24. Mitsubishi |
28,403 |
35% |
25. Lincoln |
24,894 |
32% |
26. Jaguar Land Rover |
20,558 |
18% |
27. Genesis |
14,777 |
7% |
28. INFINITI |
13,904 |
12% |
29. Porsche |
13,429 |
23% |
30. MINI |
6,369 |
13% |
31. Maserati |
2,300 |
105% |
32. Alfa Romeo |
2,285 |
4% |
33. Lamborghini |
936 |
18% |
34. Bentley |
830 |
23% |
35. Rolls-Royce |
600 |
13% |
36. Fiat |
154 |
12% |
37. McLaren |
110 |
33% |
Electric carmakers and a few of the others, send in estimates each quarter. Here’s how those stacked up in the first quarter according to the estimates reported:
Not yet reporting: Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.
Photo Credit: Andy Dean Photography/Shutterstock.com.