According to Cox Automotive, the U.S. new light vehicle market drops -12.8% year-on-year in September to 1.17 million units. This is partly because of fewer selling days 23 against 26 in September 2023. The SAAR stands at 15.8 million, identical to September 2023. Light truck sales are down -10.5% to 952,000 and passenger cars freefall -17.7% to 225,000. The Q3 tally is off -2.1% to 3.9 million while the year-to-date total edges up 0.9% to 11.787 million. Fleet sales are up 7% year-to-date, leasing is up 24% and retail sales down -4%. Cox Automotive forecasts 15.7 million sales over the Full year 2024, as the recent interest cut and more aggressive discounts could help sales improve over Q4.
Over Q3, General Motors edges down -1.9% to keep the lead ahead of a struggling Toyota Motor (-8%). Ford Motor (+0.7%) and American Honda (+8%) defy the negative market while Hyundai-Kia (-0.3%) is stable. Stellantis (-19.8%) is in hell, Nissan Motor/Mitsubishi (+1.9%) is relatively solid and Volkswagen Group (-4.7%) disappoints.
Brand-wise, Ford (-0.4%) snaps the top spot off Toyota (-10.4%) but remains #2 year-to-date where it gains 1.8% vs. +5.5% for Toyota. Chevrolet (-6%) follows ahead of Honda (+10.2%) and Hyundai (+5.2%) both in great shape. Kia (-6%), Nissan (-1.4%) and Tesla (-2.4%) drop in the remainder of the Top 10 whereas GMC (+6.4%) and Subaru (+4.9%) gain ground. Below, Mitsubishi (+42.3%), Land Rover (+28%), Lincoln (+26.1%), Mazda (+24.9%) and Mercedes (+13.9%) stand out.
The Ford F-Series (+4.2%) easily remains the most popular nameplate in the country and expands its gap with the #2, the Chevrolet Silverado (-7.3%). The Tesla Model Y (+14.8%) is estimated to climb into third place, dislodging a Toyota RAV4 (-11.9%) in difficulty. In fact the RAV4’s margin over its archenemy the Honda CR-V is only 76 sales over Q3. The Ram Pickup (-18.5%) continues to freefall and ranks #6 year-to-date vs. #3 over the Full Year 2023. Below the GMC Sierra (+10.1%) and Toyota Camry (+7.6%) both solid, we have a fantastic performance of the Chevrolet Trax (+56.6%) breaking into the Top 10 at #9. The Honda Civic (+10.8%) also impresses and shoots up from #16 over FY2023 to #10 YTD.
Previous month: USA August 2024: Mazda (+36.7%), Honda (+28.2%) highlight positive market
One year ago: USA Q3 2023: Honda (+50.9%), Nissan (+40.2%), Tesla (+37.9%) impress, market up 16.7%
Full Q3 2024 Top 15 groups, Top 47 brands and Top 307 models below.
