Auto Sales Fall 1.1 Percent in February

Automakers sold 1.33 million vehicles in the United States in February. That number is down 1.1 percent from the same month one year ago according to Autodata Corp. This is a result of consumers continuing to shift from buying cars to purchasing trucks and SUVs. 

 

General Motors, American Honda Motor Co., and Nissan North America all saw increased sales in February, driven predominantly by consumers buying trucks and SUVs. Volkswagen Group also saw an increase, but slumping car sales hurt year-over-year comparisons for Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and Kia Motors America.

 

Aided by increased Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra sales, GM sold 237,232 vehicles in February, which is up 4.1 percent from this time last year. Ford, however, sold 207, 464 of their vehicles, while Fiat Chrysler sold 168,326, meaning their sales numbers are down four percent and 10.1 percent respectively. 

 

But while Ford's sales number were down (sales of the Focus plummeted by 31.8 percent), they were helped by record SUV sales. The automaker sold 68,820 of them. Their popular F-Series trucks also got even more popular, with sales of the pickup increasing 8.7 percent. That's just shy of 66,000 units sold.

 

Overall, truck sales accounted for 62.3 percent of industry sales in February, compared to 57.6 percent a year ago. Passenger cars accounted for 37.7 percent industry sales last month, down from 42.4 percent a year ago.

 

Even though vehicle sales continue at a near-record pace so far in 2017, some analysts see trouble ahead as automakers prime the market with bigger incentives to move high inventories of unsold vehicles.