We are finally getting a good look at sales for the year 2024, and it was indeed a good year, buoyed by the 4th quarter, and led by increases in hybrids and electric vehicles. With almost all automakers reporting now, the industry was up 2.5 percent for the year. Unless you follow the numbers like I do, that doesn’t sound like a lot, but it accounts for just shy of 375,000 new vehicles more in 2024 than in 2023.
General Motors reported a 125% increase in electric vehicle sales, and said it was the overall the best year for GM since 2019. The GMC brand was particularly hot and set a new all-time sales record. Overall, GM sales were up 4.3%.
Toyota is still being plagued by inventory shortages but ended up 3.7%. 4Runner and Highlander sales were off as the old models are being phased out in favor of new replacements. Hybrids at Toyota skyrocketed to over one-million sales, which was up 53% from 2023.
Over at Ford, overall sales in 2024 were up 2%, with hybrid sales rising 27% and electric sales up 16%. Lincoln sales were on fire in 2024, topping 100,000 vehicles, up 28%, reversing a trend of 4 straight years of sales declines.
Crosstown rival Stellantis did not do as well, however. Chrysler and Fiat showed increases, but 2023 sales we pretty dismal on the two brands. The bread-and-butter brands of Jeep and Ram were down 9% and 4%, respectively. However, things looked up in the 4th quarter when the company got more aggressive with incentives, and a new optimism about the departure of CEO Carlos Tavares.
At Honda, hybrids and electrics rose 80%, and that fueled an overall gain of a very strong 11%. Sales at Acura dropped in 2024 by 9%. Honda reported hybrid and electric models, including the new Prologue all-electric SUV topped 300,000.
Hyundai and Kia chalked up another record year for the Korean-based automaker, as they really fired up the incentives in December. For the year of 2024, Hyundai sales rose 4% and Kia sales were up almost 2%. That equates to Hyundai outselling Kia by about 40,000 vehicles. Kia is on a run of 7 straight years of increases. Nissan was up 11%, but Infiniti fell 2.3%. Subaru was up over 5% for the year, and the roll continues at Mazda was up 17%. VW was also up 17%, after a poor year in 2023.
Luxury brands were mostly up in 2024. BMW reported sales rose 2.5% for the year, Porsche was up 1%, Genesis had its best year ever with sales up 8% topping 75,000 sales. Volvo was down over 2% for the year, and Lexus was up a very strong 8%. Mercedes-Benz was up 9% for the year.
Here are the results by brand of automakers for all of 2024 and how they fared versus the full-year of 2023:
| Manufacturer | 2024 | vs 2023 |
1. Toyota |
1,986,954 |
4% |
2. Ford |
1,960, 338 |
2% |
3. Chevrolet |
1,730,075 |
2% |
4. Honda |
1,291,490 |
11% |
5. Nissan |
865,938 |
11% |
6. Hyundai |
836,802 |
4% |
7. Kia |
782, 451 |
2% |
8. Subaru |
667, 725 |
5% |
9. GMC |
614, 177 |
9% |
10. Jeep |
587,725 |
9% |
11. Ram Trucks |
439,039 |
4% |
12. Mazda |
424,382 |
17% |
13. Volkswagen |
379,178 |
17% |
14. BMW |
371,346 |
2% |
15. Lexus |
345,669 |
8% |
16. Mercedes-Benz |
324, 528 |
9% |
17. Audi |
196,576 |
14% |
18. Buick |
183,421 |
10% |
19. Cadillac |
160,204 |
9% |
20. Dodge |
141, 730 |
29% |
21. Acura |
132, 367 |
9% |
22. Volvo
|
125,243 |
2% |
23. Chrysler |
124,684 |
7% |
24. Mitsubishi |
109,843 |
26% |
25. Land Rover |
106,650 |
29% |
26. Lincoln |
104,823 |
28% |
27. Porsche |
76,167 |
1% |
28. Genesis |
75,003 |
8 % |
29. INFINITI |
58,070 |
2% |
30. MINI |
26,299 |
22% |
31. Jaguar |
13,210 |
33% |
32. Alfa Romeo |
8,865 |
19% |
33. Maserati |
6,320 |
4% |
34. Bentley |
3,840 |
8% |
35. Lamborghini |
3,826 |
4% |
36. Rolls-Royce |
1,765 |
1% |
37. Fiat |
1,528 |
152% |
38. McLaren |
1,270 |
16% |
I will give you these numbers, but honestly, I have little faith in them. Most EV automakers say they are estimates, some just publish production numbers, which doesn’t mean the vehicles were actually sold. Whatever the case, here they are:
Here are the results by brand of automakers for all of 2024 and how they fared versus the full-year of 2023:
Freeman Toyota in Hurst, Texas. Credit: CarPro.