Suzuki Down 43%, Porsche Up 75%, In July 2010 Sales
Porsche was the big winner for July 2010 sales, moving 75% more cars than in July 2009, with Hyundai/ Kia, Jaguar/ Land Rover and the Big Three all making solid gains. Japanese auto makers bore the brunt of the market, with Toyota and Honda losing a bit of market share, while Suzuki took the dubious title of “Biggest Loser” as sales fell by 43%.
GM sales were up 6 percent, with Chrysler logging a 5 percent gain. Ford sales were up 3 percent despite a strong product lineup including a new Mustang. Jaguar/Land Rover reported gains of 46 percent, while Hyundai/Kia and Subaru continued on a tear, logging gains of 20 and 10 percent respectively. Volkswagen was also up 17 percent, encouraging news as the company sets lofty targets for the U.S. and world markets.
Suzuki’s much-acclaimed Kizashi sedan wasn’t enough to stem a 43% percent drop in sales, a terrible omen for the misunderstood and maligned Japanese auto maker. Honda and Toyota also reported slumping sales, with the automakers losing 2 and 3 percent respectively. Nissan sales were up 15 percent but were helped along by unprecedented cash incentives.
[Source: Automotive News]
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Some of the numbers can be a bit deceiving and don't tell the whole story. In the case of Suzuki, they will have skeewed numbers until next year, since they are going against sales of several models which they no longer sell such as the XL7, Reno, Forenza. In the case of Kizashi, also keep in mind that Suzuki halted the sale of the Kizashi for 2 weeks in July in order to get the center console storage compartment latch swapped out with one of a different design. Also one thing to note is that in the case of both the Kizashi and the SX4, Suzuki of Japan is NOT shipping any more manual transmition equipped 2010 models to the U.S. and they still haven't started the shipment of the 2011 models with manual transmition. Most Suzuki dealers at this point have ZERO inventory of manual transmition SX4's and Kizashi's in stock. Although manuals sell less than automatics, in this case there is a real impact in sales due to the fact that most reviewers of both of those cars have been recommending the manual versions over the automatics (cvt's). All that aside, it should also be noted that Suzuki just started a nationwide advertizing blitz of Suzuki cars on all major media fronts, however this wasn't in time to effect July sales numbers much. According to one major U.S. west coast Suzuki dealer that I just spoke with, the advertising is having a major impact in boosting sales and that is just after 1 week. According to the dealer, just after the advertising started, they moved close to 40 units in just one week and were selling everything that they could get on the lot at the time. According to the sales manager I spoke with, ASMC headquarters in Brea CA has finally got the message.... it's the advertising stupid! Hehe.
Numbers, Lies and Marketing. It is all the same thing. Spin, spin, spin. For example, more people in America buy compact cars than any other type of car. Too often I see references to "buying MPG", "buying small" and other non-sense, when the truth is that the poor and lower-middle class are the predominate population in the USA. As such, the most expensive new car they can afford is a compact. Americans have proven time and again that they will spend as much as they can afford to spend to buy as big of vehicle as possible. Witness the sales of SUVs as proof of my theory.