Bautis Financial’s Post

March sales look robust, thanks to incentives and inventory: Analysts see March U.S. auto sales as the best month since May 2021 because of increasing inventories — and resulting rising incentives and retreating prices. #cars #auto #car

SOME HIGHLIGHTS: - 19 straight gains....It was the 19th consecutive month that sales increased year over year. For the seven OEMs that report monthly, sales rose 12 percent in February, strengthened by bigger gains at Toyota Motor Corporation and Honda , and were up 11 percent year to date. - Top automakers, brands.... For the second straight month, Ford was the top selling brand, followed by Toyota, GlobalData said. General Motors was the No. 1 automaker, Toyota Motor ranked second, and Ford Motor Company was No. 3. GM and Toyota Motor have now alternated as the U.S. market leader for the past four months, GlobalData said. - Toyota, Honda inventories....Toyota North America ended February with 229,566 vehicles in U.S. inventory, a 31-day supply, with 127,385 cars and light trucks in dealerships' stock and 102,181 at ports or in transit to stores. A year earlier, the company's U.S. stockpiles stood at 134,361. American Honda Motor Company, Inc. brand inventories more than doubled year over year to 166,459 at the end of February, up from 142,636 a month earlier and 80,109 at the close of February 2023. NOTE...Nissan Motor Corporation is at 120-day supply. - Incentives....The average incentive on a new car or light truck rose 90 percent to $2,828 last month from February 2023, Motor Intelligence said. - Hybrids roll....In addition to rising stockpiles, Toyota and Honda are seeing double-digit growth in hybrid sales. They are not alone. Hyundai Motor Company (현대자동차), Ford Motor Company #automotive #automotiveindustry #marketing #digitalmarketing #sales #leadership #management #innovation #ecommerce #branding #ai #brand #ev #electricvehicles #technology

In February, the U.S. light-vehicle market experienced a strong rebound with sales up by 9.2% compared to the previous year, marking the 19th consecutive month of growth. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of sales exceeded 16 million, surpassing expectations. Ford led in brand sales for the second straight month, while General Motors remained the top automaker. Toyota and Honda experienced increased inventories and sales, particularly in hybrid vehicles. Incentives rose significantly, prompting heightened competition among automakers. Ford plans to quadruple hybrid sales over the next five years in anticipation of slow electric vehicle demand growth. https://lnkd.in/gCra8pw2

[NEWS] Supply gaps are crunching certified pre-owned (CPO) car sales: Used retail vehicle sales dipped 9% MoM in Sept. — but CPO sales took an even harder hit — dropping 22.4%, with 48,000 fewer units sold. The reasons? Fewer selling days and severe storms took a toll. But it’s not just seasonal… Dealers are facing an ongoing shortage of late-model used vehicles—a ripple effect of COVID-era production cuts. With fewer cars coming off-lease, inventory is tight, and high-quality used vehicles are harder to come by. To adapt and give dealers some added flexibility, automakers are expanding CPO programs — Toyota now certifies cars up to 10 years old, and Honda followed suit. Yet — the programs are just a start — sourcing quality inventory will be the real make-or-break factor for dealers. Read today’s top automotive stories, presented by Auto Hauler Exchange: https://lnkd.in/gwsSXtSu (Data source: Cox Automotive)

Don't Look Now, but GM's EV Sales Are on Fire: GM's president of global markets says their EV portfolio "is growing faster than the market," according to Investopedia, "because we have an all-electric vehicle for just about everybody, no matter what they like to drive." The headline at Barrons? "Don't Look Now, but GM's EV Sales Are on Fire." GM delivered almost 32,000 all-electric vehicles in the third quarter — a record — and up about 58% from a year earlier. The more affordable Chevy Equinox, which starts at about $35,000 before any federal tax credit, helped boost sales. GM delivered almost 10,000 of the new EVs, up from 1,013 in the second quarter, when they first went on sale. EV penetration of total GM car sales was about almost 5%, up almost two percentage points year over year. EVs accounted for 19.4% of Cadillac sales, up about 11 percentage points year over year. Year to date, GM has delivered just over 70,000 all-electric cars. GM originally planned to manufacture 200,000 EVs in 2024. That still looks aggressive, but the strong third-quarter showing makes 120,000 possible, which would be up almost 60% year over year — a respectable outcome. More important to investors than EV sales right now might be dealer inventories. GM said there were about 627,000 vehicles on dealer lots at the end of September. That's a little better than what Wolfe Research analyst Emmanuel Rosner expected. It indicates GM dealers have roughly 60 days worth of sales on their lots. That's a safe level. Lower dealer inventories reduce presure to reduce prices. They also reduce the need to cut production because dealer lots are full... GM expects to generate a full-year operating profit of about $14 billion. Meanwhile, Stellantis "slashed its financial guidance recently, partly because it needs to dramatically reduce its U.S. inventories," according to the article. For example, its Jeep dealers ended August with roughly 122 days worth of sales on their lots, while its Dodge dealers "had almost 150 days of inventory." And Investopedia argues that while GM's EV sales growth is "soaring," Ford's is showing "only modest gains." [W]hile Ford's overall U.S. sales were 0.7% higher at 504,039, it had just a 12% gain in EVs to 23,509.3 In the second quarter, Ford's EV sales had soared 61% to 23,957. Sales growth was more than three times higher for Ford's hybrid models, with President of Ford Blue and Ford Customer Service Division Andrew Frick arguing that the company has "listened to customers to offer them vehicles with powertrains to meet their specific needs." Ford is hoping to boost EV sales by offering buyers a free home charger and installation. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Don't Look Now, but GM's EV Sales Are on Fire: GM's president of global markets says their EV portfolio "is growing faster than the market," according to Investopedia, "because we have an all-electric vehicle for just about everybody, no matter what they like to drive." The headline at Barrons? "Don't Look Now, but GM's EV Sales Are on Fire." GM delivered almost 32,000 all-electric vehicles in the third quarter — a record — and up about 58% from a year earlier. The more affordable Chevy Equinox, which starts at about $35,000 before any federal tax credit, helped boost sales. GM delivered almost 10,000 of the new EVs, up from 1,013 in the second quarter, when they first went on sale. EV penetration of total GM car sales was about almost 5%, up almost two percentage points year over year. EVs accounted for 19.4% of Cadillac sales, up about 11 percentage points year over year. Year to date, GM has delivered just over 70,000 all-electric cars. GM originally planned to manufacture 200,000 EVs in 2024. That still looks aggressive, but the strong third-quarter showing makes 120,000 possible, which would be up almost 60% year over year — a respectable outcome. More important to investors than EV sales right now might be dealer inventories. GM said there were about 627,000 vehicles on dealer lots at the end of September. That's a little better than what Wolfe Research analyst Emmanuel Rosner expected. It indicates GM dealers have roughly 60 days worth of sales on their lots. That's a safe level. Lower dealer inventories reduce presure to reduce prices. They also reduce the need to cut production because dealer lots are full... GM expects to generate a full-year operating profit of about $14 billion. Meanwhile, Stellantis "slashed its financial guidance recently, partly because it needs to dramatically reduce its U.S. inventories," according to the article. For example, its Jeep dealers ended August with roughly 122 days worth of sales on their lots, while its Dodge dealers "had almost 150 days of inventory." And Investopedia argues that while GM's EV sales growth is "soaring," Ford's is showing "only modest gains." [W]hile Ford's overall U.S. sales were 0.7% higher at 504,039, it had just a 12% gain in EVs to 23,509.3 In the second quarter, Ford's EV sales had soared 61% to 23,957. Sales growth was more than three times higher for Ford's hybrid models, with President of Ford Blue and Ford Customer Service Division Andrew Frick arguing that the company has "listened to customers to offer them vehicles with powertrains to meet their specific needs." Ford is hoping to boost EV sales by offering buyers a free home charger and installation. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More EV price cuts announced, as OEMs look to ways to stimulate delivery volumes at the expense of retail margins. Ford Australia has cut pricing on the Mustang Mach-E by $7000-$8000, with a base variant now a more palatable $64,990 before on-road costs. At the same time it has slashed $15,000 from the E-Transit, bringing it down to $89,990 and opening the door to more fleet and owner-operator sales. This not only driven by tapering EV demand - April '24 sales declined 5.1% YoY while hybrid sales nearly doubled - but by competitor activity. Tesla slashing Model Y prices again and again is the key driver, but so too is the cavalcade of affordable Chinese products with more on the horizon. Small wonder Eagers Automotive, Australia's biggest dealer group, has just forecast a 15% profit reduction over '23. Intuitively this sort of OEM activity risks hurting residuals, though that assumes people had been paying full MSRP already... Regardless, I see scope for consequences here, not that carmakers have much choice: Fleet buyers becoming cautious due to RV % concerns, and OEMs whittling back R&D spend to triage the losses. Heck of a time to be an EV buyer though, especially those wanting a Mustang on novated lease with FBT exemption! Cox Automotive Inc. Heath Stubbs Stephen Lester #EV Cox Automotive Australia

🚗 16.3 million: Expected new vehicle sales in the United States in 2025 according to Cox Automotive Inc.. That would mark the best number since 2019 prior to the pandemic (~17 million). “This increase is expected to be driven by a continuing ‘normalization’ of vehicle inventories, incentives/discounts from automakers, and easing financing and loan rates.”

U.S. Auto Sales Stumble Despite Discounts and Rate Cuts The U.S. auto market is showing signs of cooling, with sales projected to grow at a slower pace in the third quarter compared to the previous year. Numbers say that in Q3 U.S. auto sales are projected to grow by 0.2% to 3,882,600 units. Rising inflation and higher interest rates are deterring consumers from purchasing new vehicles, particularly more expensive models like crossovers and pickup trucks. While compact pickup trucks and SUVs are gaining popularity due to their affordability, the overall market is expected to see a modest increase. Discounts offered by automakers and the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut have not been enough to significantly boost demand. Source: https://shorturl.at/1yOoA  What do you think about the current state of the U.S. auto market? How can automakers adapt to changing consumer preferences and economic conditions? #automotive #autosales #usmarket #inflation #interest rates #consumerbehavior #automotiveindustry

Full size pickups share of total us new vehicle sale in Q1 2024 was 12.4%. Sales of Large pickups fell 4% from Jan through March as the overall new light vehicle market grew by 5.6 %. With the pent-up demand largely met, growth is slowing as elevated new vehicle prices keep some consumers on the sidelines. And some automakers are already redirecting excess inventory to fleet channels. https://lnkd.in/gAvVnNyR.