February 2013 was a great sales month for many automakers over their February 2012 numbers; but for others, that wasn’t the case.
Coming out on top was Bentley posting a 42.8 percent increase in February sales over last year. The Big Three didn’t see numbers like that, but they too were in the black. Ford led the pack in overall sales increase at 9 percent, followed closely by GM at 7 percent, while Chrysler saw only a 4 percent growth.
Although 4 percent may seem a little stale, Chrysler’s child Dodge posted a very respectable 30 percent increase thanks in large part to the Dart, who’s sales have increased 8 percent since it’s June 2012 launch.
General Motors has Cadillac to thank for much of their growth. The new ATS sedan helped Caddy post a 20 percent increase over last year, while growing its own sales 22 percent over January 2012. Interestingly, 60 percent of ATS buyers traded something other than a Cadillac, showing Caddy is winning over new buyers who weren’t part of their brand-loyal…at least not yet.
Toyota sales grew a modest 4.3 percent increase, but had a respectable 16 percent increase in truck sales – giving credit to the betterment of the housing market.
On the flip side, however, some manufacturers didn’t have anything to brag about. Nissan was down 7.2 percent, Kia 7.8 percent, Mini 13.6 percent, and Jeep 16 percent. Lincoln scraped the bottom with a decrease in February sales of 29.3 percent compared to last year.
We suspect with Ford’s new focus of promoting Lincoln as a strong luxury brand, combined with the new models rolling out, Lincoln’s days of seeing red may be numbered.
