The 25 selling days of February 2012 are up and the United States’ automotive industry managed to close on a success. Compared to last year, the entire market saw a overal sales increase of 15.7 percent with 1,149,396 total vehicles sold. Each segment with the exception of two witnessed an increase as well with the biggest jump going to the small car category. The American public purchased 225,061 little cars, a jump of 26.5 percent compared to February 2011. In a massive contrast, the large car segment continued its downward spiral with a fall of 85.8 percent from last year’s sales. Just 1,007 big cars were sold during last month. Another size blunder could be seen in the large SUV segment, which saw a decrease of 5.4 percent compared to 2011.
For the umpteenth month in a row, the Ford F-Series came out on top in the battle for best-selling vehicle. The Blue Oval unloaded 47,273 workhorses during February: an increase of 25.9 percent from last year’s sales. Blame can be easily put on the success rate of the EcoBoost line of engines which are making headlines and pushing production capacities to the max. Behind almost 13,000 units was the still impressive second place Toyota Camry. It wasn’t too long ago that the Japanese icon was hurting sales wise but it seems that the 2012’s redesign has done the sedan some much-needed good. Up 26.9 percent from February 2011, Toyota sold 34,542 Camry models last month. Perhaps even more impressive was the comeback from the Nissan Altima. Placing third with 32,953 units sold, the other Japanese family sedan jumped up 58.4 percent compared to last year. The biggest individual increase could be seen by the 2012 Ford Focus as 23,350 compacts were purchased: a jump of 114.6 percent.
In the manufactures race, only one brand managed to break the 200,000 mark: General Motors. GM sold a total of 209,306 cars and trucks during February; an ever-so-slight increase of 1.1 percent from 2011. Ford took second place with 178,644 vehicles sold while the Camry helped Toyota land third place with 159,423 total sales. The Germans saw a solid success with increase for most brands. Perhaps aided by the all-new Passat, Volkswagen jumped up 42.5 percent from February 2011 with 30,577 total vehicles sold in the U.S. BMW managed to unload 21,204 SUVs and Cars while Mercedes-Benz and Audi sold 18,911 and 8,531 respectively. Success wasn’t seen over in parts of Sweden as Saab’s bankruptcy caused just 95 vehicles to be purchased during the month of February: down 82.6 percent from 2011. Since 2012 began, the troubled Swedish automaker has only sold 196 new vehicles to the American public. In 25 days, 90 Ferraris, 191 Maseratis and 126 Bentleys were purchased in the U.S. Up 233.3 percent from 2011 was Maybach who managed to sell 10 cars during February 2012.
Source: WSJ
