I promised I’d get the mid-year sales report to you, although I don’t have faith in the numbers due to the CDK computer meltdown at the pivotal end of June, just as the second quarter was ending. I think we’ll see a spike in July numbers from the June sales that could not be reported. Even with that, sales were up the first half of 2024 over the first half of 2023 by a little over 1%, so good news for the auto industry.
Surprisingly, Fiat, Lincoln, and Volkswagen were up the most over last year, but to put it in perspective, none of them had a good first half of 2023. In the biggest fall, I am surprised that Acura and Ram were way off. At Acura I suspect lack of vehicles this year hurt them, but Ram is a mystery. In fact, all the Stellantis brands are off this year. They don’t seem to be keeping up with the competition on incentives, and they have had a number of long-time executives depart this year. The dealers are begging for help to move vehicles, they are terribly overstocked and the interest bills are huge. In fact, Honda jumped ahead of Stellantis year-to-date for the first time I can ever remember. This is something I will continue to watch.
In the top five, Toyota, Ford, Honda, and Nissan were all up, with Chevrolet being down, but barely. The race between Ford and Toyota is one to watch the rest of the year. Toyota will likely be victorious as #1 again, they still have a lot of new product in the pipeline, and Ford really doesn’t.
I did not include the all-electric car makers, as I told you last week, most of those companies just estimate sales and I don’t find the information reliable.
Here are your winners and losers for the first half of 2024 against sales the first half of 2023:
| Manufacturer | First Half Of 2024 | Change vs 2023 |
1. Toyota |
1,019,429 |
16% |
2. Ford |
1,003,726 |
4% |
3. Chevrolet |
838,697 |
1% |
4. Honda |
626,266 |
12% |
5. Nissan |
461,433 |
3% |
6. Hyundai |
399,523 |
2% |
7. Kia |
386,461 |
2% |
8. Subaru |
322,443 |
6% |
9. Jeep |
304,182 |
9% |
10. GMC |
281,882 |
2% |
11. Mazda |
202,486 |
9% |
12. Ram |
200,792 |
25% |
13. Volkswagen |
182,900 |
26% |
14. Mercedes-Benz |
179,489 |
6% |
15. BMW |
175,724 |
3% |
16. Lexus |
167,411 |
12% |
17. Audi |
93,282 |
14% |
18. Dodge |
92,737 |
16% |
19. Buick |
89,774 |
11% |
20. Chrysler |
74,574 |
8% |
21. Cadillac
|
73,904 |
2% |
22. Volvo |
62,882 |
5% |
23. Acura |
53,371 |
27% |
24. Mitsubishi |
51,133 |
12% |
25. Lincoln |
48,817 |
26% |
26. Land Rover |
32,717 |
15% |
27. Porsche |
32,323 |
11% |
28. Genesis |
31,821 |
3% |
29. INFINITI |
28,027 |
13% |
30. MINI |
12,239 |
18% |
31. Jaguar |
5,093 |
17% |
32. Alfa Romeo |
4,479 |
2% |
33. Rolls-Royce |
925 |
5% |
34. McLaren |
535 |
Flat |
35. Fiat |
470 |
68% |
Photo Credit: Andy Dean Photography/Shutterstock.com.