Detroit’s automakers on Tuesday all posted strong sales increases in January compared to a year ago, led by General Motors Co.’s 18.3 percent gain — its best January in seven years, reported The Detroit News.
Buyers took advantage of low gas prices, easy access to credit and stable feelings about the economy to buy vehicles, particularly full-size trucks, crossovers and SUVs. Better weather than a year ago also seemed to aid sales, which analysts expect will come in more than 10 percent higher than January 2014.
Ford Motor Co. saw January sales jump 15.3 percent to 178,351, while FCA US LLC, formerly Chrysler Group LLC, also posted a 14 percent sales gain in January.
GM said its U.S. sales to retail customers and fleet customers increased by 14 percent and 32 percent, respectively.
GM saw big gains from its Chevrolet brand, up 20 percent; GMC was up 28.6 percent and Cadillac had a 2.6 percent sales gain. Sales for Buick fell by 5.5 percent.
The Detroit automaker was boosted by big increases in pickup sales — up 42 percent year-over-year — and sales of crossovers and SUVs jumped 36 percent from January 2014.
“Consumers feel very good because more people are working, the U.S. economy is expanding and fuel prices are low,” said Kurt McNeil, GM’s U.S. vice president of sales operations, in a statement. “Consumer and commercial demand for trucks and crossovers is really driving our business, and our move into the small crossover segment with the Chevrolet Trax and Buick Encore, and mid-size pickups with the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, was well-timed.”
Ford said its retail sales increased by 13 percent — the best retail sales month for Ford since 2004. The Dearborn automaker said passenger car sales to retail customers rose by 6 percent, utilities were up 10 percent and truck sales rose 23 percent.
Ford sold 54,370 F-Series pickups last month, up 16.8 percent in January, marking the best January for F-Series since 2004. Lincoln brand sales also jumped 10.8 percent.
FCA posted its best January sales since 2007 with 145,007 vehicles sold last month.
“We kicked off 2015 with a 14 percent increase in sales and extended our year-over-year sales streak to 58 consecutive months,” said Reid Bigland, FCA’s head of U.S. sales, in a statement. “In spite of some tough 2015 comparisons, we remain confident in our ability to post year-over-year sales increases on the back of strong retail demand for our products.”
FCA said its Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram Truck and Fiat brands each posted year-over-year increases, led by Jeep’s 22.9 percent increase. The company said 10 vehicles set January sales records including four Jeep vehicles. Ram pickup sales also jumped 14 percent.
Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. said its sales jumped 15.6 percent in January, as light truck and Lexus brand sales set January sales records.
“This year is off to a strong start as the sales momentum we saw in 2014 continued into January,” Bill Fay, Toyota division group vice president and general manager, said in a statement.
Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. said its total U.S. sales rose 15.1 percent in January, with its Nissan division setting a January record with 94,449 sales, up 15.9 percent.
American Honda Motor Co. Inc. said it had record U.S. sales in January of 102,184, up 11.5 percent from a year ago. Its Honda brand set a January record with 90,202 sales, up 11.6 percent, while Acura brand sales increased by 10.7 percent.
Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor America said its January sales rose 1.1 percent to 44,505 vehicles, setting a January record. Kia Motors America also had record January sales of 38,299, up 3.5 percent year-over-year. Volkswagen of America Inc. posted flat sales of 23,504 in January.
TrueCar Inc., a car-buying and -selling marketplace, said it predicts U.S. auto sales will reach nearly 1.15 million vehicles in January, up 13.2 percent from January 2014. January 2015 had one extra selling day than January 2014. Kelley Blue Book estimated a similar increase of 12.9 percent, though it noted some final selling days of the month may have been hampered by bad weather in the East.
“Full-size trucks continue to thrive in 2015 and Kelley Blue Book anticipates sales will improve more than 10 percent in January alone,” said Alec Gutierrez, Kelley Blue Book senior analyst, in a statement. “Expect a strong push from Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra, Ram and F-Series, especially when taking into consideration the low cost of fuel and the appeal of these recently redesigned core products.”
Many industry forecasters are calling for U.S. auto sales to reach 17 million in 2015 after hitting 16.52 million last year, up by nearly 1 million sales from 2013.
