The big winner for August 2014 in terms of car sales is Chrysler. That’s would TrueCar said in its latest study of new vehicle sales, and the motion has now been seconded by Kelley Blue Book.
Overall, sales were slightly off compared to August 2013, but according to the TrueCar report, that was partly due to there being one less prime selling day this year.
KBB’s Alec Gutierrez commented, “Although growth has slowed, sales remain steady and on pace to end the year strong. Growth is expected to continue to soften, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see automakers increase their incentive spending. Spending was restrained for the first part of the year, and has crawled upward in recent months. Sales also will be boosted by the Labor Day weekend, which is traditionally one of the strongest weekends of the year for vehicle sales.”
The sad fact of the month was that most brands were flat to down. Chrysler did so good that it was able to almost single-handedly drag the total industry result up close to par.
Here’s how each manufacturer fared for the month:
| Make | 8/14 sales | YOY | Share |
| GM | 273,000 | -1 | 18.3 |
| Toyota | 221,000 | -4.6 | 14.8 |
| Ford | 217,000 | -1.5 | 14.6 |
| Chrysler | 184,000 | 11.1 | 12.3 |
| Honda | 153,000 | -8.1 | 10.3 |
| Nissan | 122,000 | 1.2 | 8.2 |
| Hyundai | 117,000 | -1 | 7.9 |
| Volkswagen | 51,000 | -11.6 | 3.4 |
| Total | 1,490,000 | -0.7 | |
| Source: KBB |
As far as vehicle types, again, only one category showed significant improvement, and again it was enough to pull the entire industry near to par. The compact SUV/crossover set of vehicles was the style to watch.
Here’s the breakdown:
| Make | 8/14 sales | YOY | Share |
| Compact car | 221,000 | -2 | 14.8 |
| Mid-size car | 215,000 | -3.5 | 14.4 |
| Compact SRV/crsovr | 193,000 | 6.2 | 13 |
| Full-size pickup | 175,000 | -2.8 | 11.7 |
| Entry level luxury | 72,000 | -7.5 | 4.8 |
| Total | 1,490,000 | -0.7 | |
| Source: KBB |
RBR-TVBR observation: Our advice remains the same as it was yesterday: Convince the hot models – or model, at the moment – to strike while the iron is hot. Convince the stagnant models to aspire to better things. And convince the floundering models to save their own hides for the remainder of the year!
Providing access to your attentive, loyal, cash-spending audience will be able to help dealers no matter what their current circumstances.
