March small car sales up — SUV, truck sales down

[RedEarth]

Is $3.25 to $3.50 a gallon the long-awaited for inflexion point for driving a shift in U.S. car-buying habits? Obviously we can’t know for sure, but the Detroit News reported that “cars outsold light trucks” in March.

Yes, the recession no doubt had an impact on the sales of big, expensive vehicles. But since gasoline prices are going to mostly be going up over the next decade or two, possibly to well above $4 or even $5 a gallon (see “Peak Oil? Bring it on!”), this should be (yet one more) wake-up call to Detroit.

What exactly happened in March? According to a cars.com blog:

In March, small cars like the Ford Focus — up 24% — and Honda Fit — up 73.8% — were bright spots almost universally among automakers. Hybrid sales were also up. On the other end of the spectrum, trucks like the Ford F-Series — down 23.8% — and Dodge Ram — down 31% — saw huge losses, as did truck-based SUVs.

Here are their numbers for March 2008 sales performance for a spectrum of cars, trucks, SUVs and hybrids:


Cars

Chevy Cobalt: Down 23.8%
Dodge Caliber: Up 10%
Ford Focus: Up 24%
Honda Civic: Up 18.3%
Honda Fit: Up 73.8%
Hyundai Elantra: Up 11.1%
Kia Spectra: Up 41.3%
Mitsubishi Lancer: Up 32.7%
Nissan Sentra: Up 21.4%
Nissan Versa: Up 34.2%
Toyota Corolla: Down 21.3% (mainly due to the changeover to the 2009 model)
Toyota Yaris: Up 83.2%
VW Jetta: Up 19.7%

Hybrids

Honda Civic Hybrid: Up 44.3%
Toyota Prius: Up 16%

Trucks and SUVs

BMW X5: Down 41.9%
Chevy Silverado: Down 23.5%
Chevy Tahoe: Down 34.2%
Dodge Durango: Down 38%
Ford Explorer: Down 14.8%
Ford F-Series: Down 23.8%
Honda Pilot: Down 23.6%
Hummer H3: Down 32.6%
Lexus LX 570: Up 156.1%
Nissan Titan: Down 44.9%
Toyota Sequoia: Up 19.8%
Toyota Tundra: Up 16.8%



http://climateprogress.org/2008/04/25/small-car-sales-up-suv-truck-sales-down-in-march/