Three new cars are striving to gain ground in the huge non-luxury small car segment. The 2013 Dodge Dart was launched last June, the redesigned 2013 Nissan Sentra last November, and the 2014 Kia Forte sedan arrives later this month. This segment accounted for 16% of all new vehicle registrations in 2012, second only to the midsize cars 17.6% among the 32 segments tracked by Polk. The non-luxury small car segment has been dominated for years by such well-known models as the Corolla, Civic and...
Read More »The next 18 months are important for all OEMs, but perhaps more so for GM than for any of its rivals. From mid-2012 through mid-2014, GM will unveil the greatest array of all-new or re-designed vehicles in recent memory, if not in the company's history.
In 2012, the company brought to market the Spark minicar, Malibu midsize sedan, Verano compact car, XTS large luxury car and the ATS compact luxury car. Coming in 2013 are new versions of the Silverado and Sierra large pickups, the full-size...
Read More »Gas prices have risen $0.40 on average for all grades in the past six weeks, igniting consumer interest in more fuel efficient vehicles. Small car market including hybrids, electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs)—soared almost 30 percent to 3.2 percent, its fifth highest month ever. The stars would seem to be well-aligned for EV and PHEV sales to take off, but that has not yet happened. Hybrid sales—particularly Toyota Prius —accounted for the bulk of February's momentum. EV/PHEV...
Read More »From 2006 through 2009, large vehicles as a percentage of total
new vehicle registrations declined 10 percentage points to 20%,
though this proportion has stayed constant in the last two years.
Going forward, most automotive forecasts predict that large
vehicles will retreat even further as gas prices rise and OEMs
launch smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles (including hybrids and
electric vehicles) to meet the upcoming CAFÉ standards.
Looking at the nine non-luxury mainstream makes, all of them...
The Luxury Compact Car Segment – with 27% of all luxury
registrations during the first 11 months of 2011 - is the largest
luxury segment. Therefore, it is no surprise that many of the
luxury marques focused on small cars in their presentations to the
media at the recent North American International Auto Show (NAIAS)
in Detroit.
BMW unveiled the redesigned 2012 3-Series which offers understated, evolutionary styling changes; later in the year, a hybrid 3-Series will be available. Cadillac...Read More »
BMW unveiled the redesigned 2012 3-Series which offers understated, evolutionary styling changes; later in the year, a hybrid 3-Series will be available. Cadillac...Read More »
It seems like there are a million different types of cars and trucks on the road these days. I'm not a mathematician, but if you were to calculate all of the different combinations of vehicles available based on such vehicle characteristics as size, body type, price and powertrain, there are probably a million possibilities. Yet, even with such a wide choice of vehicles from which the consumer can choose, four types of vehicles dominate the marketplace. Midsize cars, compact cars, compact...
Read More »The BMW 3-Series continues to be the heart and soul of BMW. This
small BMW encapsulates in one vehicle the driving characteristics,
styling and image that define the BMW brand. The 3-Series
registration results illustrate its success. In the past 12
months (September 2010 – August 2011), BMW dealers have delivered
96,292 3-Series, 41% of all BMWs. This total is 66% more than the
Infinity G, the runner-up in the small car segment of the luxury
market.
Determined to maintain the leadership position...
Even though the U.S. new vehicle industry has had to weather a
lot of turbulence during the past few years, some things seem to
pretty much remain the same. One of these is the list of most
popular models. Nine of the 10 models with the greatest number of
registrations (through the first five months of this year) are
repeats from a year ago.
Some other highlights of the list include:
- The Ford F-Series is a fixture at the top of the list. It has been the number one, best-selling model of car or...
The recently published half-year sales of the three German luxury
car brands (Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz) were quite impressive. All
three recorded sales performances that were considered better than
ever.
However, the Year-over-Year (YOY) growth showed some significant differences: while sales of Audi and BMW models increased by more than 17 percent, the sales performance of Mercedes-Benz (cars, without Smart) improved less than 10%. In absolute terms, BMW is leading with sales of 690,000...Read More »
However, the Year-over-Year (YOY) growth showed some significant differences: while sales of Audi and BMW models increased by more than 17 percent, the sales performance of Mercedes-Benz (cars, without Smart) improved less than 10%. In absolute terms, BMW is leading with sales of 690,000...Read More »
My 10-year old daughter wrote an essay about what she wants to do
when she becomes a teenager. Of all the things she wants to do, one
item in particularl made me not only smile, but think. She wants to
drive a tiny purple car; tiny, because she wants to leave the
smallest bio-foot-print possible and purple because she is really
into it, "a royal color" as she describes it.
She realizes there are not that many tiny or purple cars out there. But it doesn't stop her from wanting one. "I still want...Read More »
She realizes there are not that many tiny or purple cars out there. But it doesn't stop her from wanting one. "I still want...Read More »
There was recently a big hullabaloo about Dan Akerson, General
Motors CEO, voicing his support for an increase in gas taxes; an
opinion also shared by both Bill Ford and Alan Mullaly of Ford.
This was presented as an alternative to managing fuel consumption,
as opposed to increasing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)
standards. The basic principle is to impact the demand side of the
economic equation, rather than the supply side.
I don't disagree that $4/gallon gas is quite an adjustment and...Read More »
I don't disagree that $4/gallon gas is quite an adjustment and...Read More »
Okay, this article
"Analysts Say Americans are Too Fat to Buy Small Cars in Big
Numbers" is sad and humorous in my view. It's an assessment of
how misaligned OEMs may be with building or selling cars and trucks
for the American population which seems to be growing in personal
girth. While I'm saddened by Americans' obesity statistics that
reveal adverse "growth rates," I have to question the implied
correlation of overweight humans and the dislike for small cars.
One does not trigger the other.
Le...Read More »
Le...Read More »
My wife swears she'll never drive a minivan. Whereas, I have a
teammate at Polk who takes every opportunity to boast about "how
cool minivans are." Based on these two disparate points, I decided
to conduct some research, using 1st quarter new vehicle
registrations (January - March for a given year) as my guide, to
determine if the minivan segment is still hot or not.
Based on the 5-year trend of first quarter
registrations below, the minivan market is losing ground with U.S.
consumers. The...Read More »
Based on the 5-year trend of first quarter
registrations below, the minivan market is losing ground with U.S.
consumers. The...Read More »Sometimes hidden among all the setbacks the domestic OEMs have endured in the past five years is one notable success: thwarting Toyota's efforts to become a major competitor in the fullsize pickup segment. With the launch of the re-designed Tundra in 2007, Toyota hoped to gain a stronger foothold in this segment but the model has fallen short.
The Tundra's share of the half-ton pickup segment jumped by almost five points in 2007 to 13.8%, but since then it has retreated, and so far this year the...
Read More »Given the current rising gas prices it does not take a forecasting
wizard to predict that small car purchases will increase in the
U.S. We have seen this trend many times in the past -- gas prices
increase, small car sales spike. However, we also see that within
days of gas prices beginning to fall, so do small car sales and
Americans flock back to large cars, SUVs and trucks.
Can we get past the point of Americans buying small cars only to save a few bucks at the pump – but actually because they...Read More »
Can we get past the point of Americans buying small cars only to save a few bucks at the pump – but actually because they...Read More »
I hate to admit this, but I'm old enough to have been driving
during the oil embargo in the mid-seventies. Among other effects
(the price of gas went up to more than 50 cents a gallon!), this
shock caused car buyers to seriously consider choosing to buy a
small Japanese import instead of one of the comfy domestic cars
that we were all used to. The oil embargo ended, but it was a long
time before we were all comfortable that gas would be available
when we needed it (at any price). Into this...Read More »
Flexible
(gasoline/ethanol) vehicles, commonly referred to as "E85" or "Flex
Fuel," represent one of every 10 personal new vehicle purchases
year-to-date through November 2010. This represents a market share
increase of nearly 6 percentage points since 2006. As a consumer
who lived through the gas price crisis, I expected the new wave of
fuel efficient vehicles to push Americans into small minicar like
transportation. On the other hand, as a member of the Polk analytic
community, I was keenly...Read More »If you could increase the fuel efficiency of just one vehicle
segment by 10%, which segment would you choose?
The table below shows the number of vehicles bought new in each
macro segment in the last 12 months (personal registrations only),
along with a SWAG at the average mpg for that segment:
Personal Registrations, Last 12 Months
| Vehicle Segment | Count | Est. MPG |
| Entry/Economy Car | 1,396,394 | 30 |
| Midsize Car | 1,805,962 | 28 |
| Sporty Car | 255,991 | 20 |
| Luxury/Large Car | 768,797 | 22 |
| Minivan | 296,526 | 20 |
| Mini Sport Utility | 969,620 | 22 |
| Spo... |
So we are one month into the New Year, the North American
International Auto Show is behind us and everyone has put their
stake in the ground. From what I have seen, the expectation is a
market of around 12.5 million units this year – certainly better
than the last few but nowhere near the 16 million mark of a few
years ago. What's your guess? (Because let's be honest – that's
what they all are!)
What are the big things that could impact this year? Let's start with the obvious – the economy and...Read More »
What are the big things that could impact this year? Let's start with the obvious – the economy and...Read More »
High
fuel costs...CAFE standards...an increasing number of small cars
sold in the U.S...you would think pickups, SUVs and their brethren
are a dying breed. I don't think so. Take a look at this chart. If
you are an OEM motivating your dealer network to stock trucks,
SUVs, minivans or full-size vans, well here is your geographic road
map. Nationally, over half of all new retail registrations fall under the broader "truck" category. By 2015, we don't expect this proportion to exceed 52% of all...Read More »
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