DETROIT — Sales declined for most automakers in March, including Ford and General Motors, even though the industry remains on track to sell about 17 million new cars and trucks this year — the most since the Great Recession.
In March, weak industry figures were largely caused by one fewer weekend falling in the month compared with last year and consumers who were slow to return to showrooms after a cold, snowy winter.
The industry also is coming close to plateauing after five straight years of big sales gains.
“We are not going to see the robust growth that we’ve seen coming out of the recession from 2009,” said Ford sales analyst Erich Merkle.
Nevertheless, Merkle said the industry remains healthy and the industry has logged a 5 percent sales gain over the first three months of the year.
But in March, sales fell 3.4 percent for Ford and 2.4 percent for General Motors while Fiat Chrysler Automobiles managed to eke out a 1.7 percent gain.
Among Asian automakers, sales increased 4.4 percent for Toyota, fell 2.7 percent for Nissan and fell 5.3 percent for Honda.
For FCA US (previously Chrysler), March marked the 60th consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains – an astounding five year streak that is virtually unheard of in the U.S. auto industry.
“March was a tough month, yet we were able to extend our year-over-year sales streak,” said Reid Bigland, head of U.S. sales for FCA US. “Five years of consecutive monthly year-over-year sales increases is a great symbol of FCA’s commitment to continuous improvement and a tremendous source of pride for our entire organization.”
FCA’s gains were led by a 23 percent increase for its Jeep brand and a 15 percent increase for the Chrysler brand. Ram sales rose 1 percent and sales fell 5 percent for Fiat and 24 percent for Dodge.
GM’s sales slipped 2.4 percent for the month, compared to a year earlier, despite a surge of interest in the automaker’s new mid-size pickup trucks.
Sales of the company’s most popular vehicle in the U.S., the Chevrolet Silverado pickup, rose 7 percent to 45,193 units, while its sister vehicle, the GMC Sierra, increased 3.2 percent to 17,395.
“As the economy gained steam throughout 2014, we knew 2015 would be a strong year for trucks,” said Kurt McNeil, GM’s U.S. vice president of sales operations. “Higher demand dovetailed perfectly with the launches of our new full-size pickups and large SUVs.”
By brand, sales fell 3.2 percent for Chevrolet and 6.8 percent for Cadillac while Buick gained a modest 0.5 percent and GMC rose 1.3 percent.
In an encouraging sign for the automaker, shoppers are embracing the new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon mid-size pickups, purchasing 9,055 units of the two vehicles. Last week, GM added a third shift of production at the Wentzville, Mo. plant, where the mid-size pickups are made, to keep up with demand.
Ford sold 235,929 new cars and trucks in March, a 3.4 percent decline from the same month a year ago as sales of all of its passenger cars fell and tight inventory of its new F-150 pickup hurt F-Series sales.
F-Series sales fell 4.6 percent in March compared with the same month last year, as well as a sales decline for all of the automaker’s passenger cars, including the Fiesta, Focus and Fusion.
Mark LaNeve, Ford’s vice president, U.S. sales and marketing said, Ford’s said inventory of the new F-150 – launched last year – remains tight and the company has made it a priority to sell the truck to retail customers and is holding back on fleet sales.
“It’s pretty noteworthy, that we sold 68,000 F-Series (pickups) . which is a huge month, when we are at 56 day supply, which by historic standards . is a very tight supply,” LaNeve said.
In March, fleet customers accounted for 29 percent of Ford’s overall sales, down from 32 percent for the same month last year. Also, LaNeve said the average transaction price of the new F-150 is $2,100 above the outgoing model.
Despite relatively weak sales gains in March, automakers still likely sold about 1.5 million cars and trucks, a figure that is much higher than it was just a few years ago.
“We still expect to see the month to close with the selling pace at 16.7 to 16.8 million (selling pace), a healthy figure overall,” said Alec Gutierrez, senior analyst with Kelley Blue Book. “While sales didn’t quite hit the mark, average transaction prices remain up while incentive spend is down.”
Jessica Caldwell, an analyst at Edmunds.com, said consumers are flocking to compact SUVs and crossovers in record numbers while passenger car sales are suffering.
“Compact SUVs have earned record market share in 2015 but the popularity of these vehicles has not generated incremental sales,” Caldwell said. “This trend is having an adverse affect on midsize and compact car sales. Those segments’ market shares are at an eight-year low so far this year.”
LaNeve said that trend is hurting sales of the Ford Fusion, Fiesta and Focus but said the Dearborn automaker’s historic strength in trucks bodes well for its future.
Toyota, however, managed to outperform most automakers even though it is historically strong when it comes to passenger car sales.
Sales of the RAV4 crossover rose 27.9 percent to 25,243 while sales of the 4Runner increased 22.5 percent.
“Our pickups, SUVS and Sienna minivan all posted good gains in March and contributed to a record light truck first quarter,” said Bill Fay, Toyota division group vice president and general manager.
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