North American vehicle sales cut by a fifth in 2009

The new car market across North America suffered the full force of recession in 2009, with some worrying trends revealed in the latest figures supplied by world’s leading provider of automotive data and intelligence, JATO Dynamics.

Behind the headlines of US government intervention and “cash for clunkers” schemes, lies a shift in consumer demand that has hit upper segment cars and domestic US brands hardest.

Overall, 3,271,321 fewer new cars were bought in North America in 2009, than in 2008, with 12.6 million total sales.

Across the region, those brands weathering the storm best were lower volume imported marques, with Hyundai (+11.6 %) and Kia (+11.3%) increasing sales volumes.  Other winners were Subaru (+15%) and Audi, which achieved 5.4% growth in H2, albeit with smaller volumes.

By contrast, the three biggest brands, Ford, Toyota and Chevrolet, ended the year 13.8%, 18.2% and 25.8% down respectively.

David Di Girolamo, Head of JATO Consult, said: “The recession of demand and simultaneous, sudden shift to smaller, more economical vehicles has been felt keenly across North America. This has created even more of an opportunity for those lower-volume, importing manufacturers who already offer such vehicles and puts even more pressure on the big, domestic auto makers.”

United States
With 2009 sales down by 2.8 million (21.2%), the top five models in the United States new car league were held by import brands, Toyota, Honda and Nissan, with the year’s best-selling car the Toyota Camry.

Domestic US brands still feature, but some have been hit hard by the recession – for example, the seventh-placed car, the Chevrolet Impala large sedan, whose sales dropped by 37.7%, vs. 2008.

Overall, US car and truck sales were down 20.5% and 22% respectively, with small and lower medium cars seeing smaller drops in demand, evidence of downsizing amongst those US customers buying new cars.