A decade’s worth of sales numbers; more road tales
The auto industry’s rebound from the recession of 2008-2009 seemingly has peaked at 2015’s record 17.5 million in sales.
In 2009, when sales fell to 5.4 million, it seemed there was nowhere to go but up. We had an aging fleet on the roads and a growing need for people to upgrade. Now the question for the future is whether the industry can sustain these sales numbers.
On the other hand, looking back, the industry’s profile has changed significantly in the past decade. We thank Automotive News, which tracks the industry’s data, for compiling pages of statistics.
Among those we found interesting was the list of 10 biggest gainers and losers over the past decade.
Subaru, with a 197 percent sales gain, led the crowd. But they weren’t alone. Audi (143 percent), Kia (127), Jeep (82), Hyundai (67), Volkswagen (56), Mercedes-Benz (53), Nissan (44), Toyota (17), and Honda (12) all grew both in sales and number of vehicles in their portfolios.
The loss leaders were led by Scion (down 64 percent), Chrysler (-50), Volvo (-43), Cadillac (-25), Buick (-21), and Chevrolet (-20).
These numbers reflect momentum, or lack thereof. Some of my thoughts:
Subaru in many ways became “the new Toyota,’’ except it has all-wheel-drive across the board. It also has a well-defined product core along with great reliability and customer satisfaction. The move to CVTs significantly increased fuel mileage, which had been the brand’s major drawback.
Audi, which sells only about a third as many vehicles (119,136 in 2015) as BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus, also has developed a loyal customer base. It will be interesting to see how much they can close the gap on luxury’s big three. BMW (346,023 units sold), Lexus (344,601), and Mercedes-Benz (343,088) were amazingly close in their 2015 sales race.
Scion seemingly was a great idea. Scion means descendant, in this case the offspring of Toyota, and was designed to appeal to the youth market and create an entry into the Toyota and Lexus brands. The cars were fine, but it’s not so much the youth as the grownups who are buying most new cars.
Volvo appears most likely to reverse its down years. The new XC90 is North American Truck/SUV of the Year and more new product, led by the now-arriving S90, is on the way, all with industry-leading safety systems.
Last year’s breakdown among cars, crossovers, and trucks (pickups, SUVs, vans) shows the continuing trend to crossovers and trucks. Cars (7.6 million sales) were down 2.3 percent. Crossovers (5.2M) were up 18 percent, and trucks (4.6M) were up 7.7 percent.
Story continues after gallery
Top trucks, SUVs and crossovers of the N.E. Auto Show
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Tales from the Road (con’t.)
You, the readers, have contributed enough annoying-driver habits and tales for another future column.
In addition, some folks have sent along interesting notes and anecdotes.
This comes from Bill Litant at MIT:
“Been very much enjoying the Bad Driver tales. The one about the driverless car reminded me of one of the funniest car stories I’ve heard.
“A fellow gearhead friend named John owns a Triumph Mayflower, a small British luxury car sometimes likened to a baby Rolls Royce and built from 1949-1953. One day he was driving along when he passed a police cruiser, which pulled out as if to stop him.
“When the cruiser pulled up next to him on his left side, John reached across the passenger seat and cranked down the left-side window and asked, ‘Is everything all right, officer?’
“ ‘It is now, but when you drove by me, I thought the dog was driving.’ ’’
“I suggested to my friend that he should teach the dog to stick his paw out the side when they make a left-hand turn.’’
Still, it would take a brave officer to ask to see a Shepherd’s (dog) license and papers.
What’s a CVT?
Sam Shikora, a student at Sharon High, recently interviewed a number of automotive journalists about the disappearing manual transmission. As part of his piece, he explained the different types of automatic transmissions and pretty much nailed the CVT, writing: “The CVT (continuously variable transmission) keeps a vehicle’s engine in its sweet spot, where it produces the most power while burning the least fuel. In comparison to other transmissions physically limited to a certain number of gear ratios, the CVT can hypothetically replicate any gear ratio.’’
Etc.
F1 Boston (Braintree and East Bridgewater) does an amazing job with its kart-racing programs. Now a Pittsburgh group is building an all-electric, high-speed, indoor kart track scheduled to open this spring in the Monroeville Mall complex. The karts will be capable of 50 miles per hour while junior drivers will be limited to 25 mph … Chevrolet is going over to the dark side, offering a 2016 Silverado Realtree Edition with an off-road package plus blackout trim, accents, and graphics. If that’s too big for you, there’s also a 2016 Trax Midnight Edition for the small SUV. It features black wheels, trim bezels, moldings, door handles, and rear license plate applique. Inside, seats and mats have gray trim accents and piping … The photos say more than any words, but the Model T Ford Snowmobile Club’s 17th annual meet will be next weekend (Feb. 5-7) at the Sunset Motor Inn in Morrisville, Vermont. See www.modeltfordsnowmobile.com for more details. And root for more snow.
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