DETROIT (AP) — Sales at Chrysler and Nissan dealers were
hot last month, but General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen sales were as
frigid as the weather that gripped much of the nation.
Chrysler’s
U.S. sales advanced 8 percent, while Nissan’s rose nearly 12 percent.
But GM was down 12 percent, Ford was off 7 percent and Volkswagen
slumped 19 percent.
Analysts aren’t expecting January to be a
strong month for automakers. They’re predicting little or no sales
growth compared with a year ago because a barrage of snowstorms and cold
snaps kept buyers out of showrooms.
Chrysler was an exception,
notching its best January in six years. Sales were led by the Chrysler
200 midsize car and the Ram pickup. Both posted gains of more than 20
percent. Jeep brand sales rose 38 percent, fueled by sales of 10,505 new
Cherokee small SUVs. It was the company’s 46th-straight month of
year-over-year sales gains.
"The bad weather only seemed to affect
our competitors’ stores as we had a great January," Reid Bigland,
Chrysler’s U.S. sales chief, said in a statement.
Nissan sales gained 11.8 percent, led by the redesigned Rogue small crossover SUV with sales up 55
percent.
But
GM said its U.S. sales dropped due to the frigid weather, with nearly
all of its high-volume models showing declining sales. "Historically,
January is the industry’s lowest sales month of the year. Extreme winter
weather in the South, Midwest and Northeast this January further
depressed GM and industry sales," the company said.
GM predicted
an industrywide annual selling rate of 15.3 million for the month, just a
touch above the 15.2 percent rate January 2013.
Ford also blamed
the weather for its sales decline. Sales of the Ford Focus small car
plunged 26 percent from last January, while sales of the F-Series pickup
were flat. Ford’s Lincoln luxury brand was the bright spot, with a 43
percent increase. Sales of the Lincoln MKZ sedan, which went on sale
last spring, more than quadrupled over last January’s anemic levels.
The
company said the repeated winter storms and subzero temperatures
disrupted deliveries to rental car companies and other so-called fleet
buyers. Retail sales to individual buyers were down 5 percent, the
company said.
"Given the difficult weather in our largest sales
regions, we are fortunate to have held in at retail as well as we did,"
John Felice, Ford’s U.S. sales chief, said in a statement. "In areas
where the weather was good, such as in the West, sales were up."
Volkswagen also reported a down month, with nearly every vehicle in its lineup losing sales compared with
a year ago.
Dealers said they expected slower sales for the month due to the weather.
"When
you go three days when no one comes on the lot, it’s a little tough to
be up to average," said Timothy "Bruce" Detweiler, dealer principal of a
Buick-GMC dealer in Masontown, Pa., about 50 miles south of Pittsburgh.
Local temperatures were near or below zero for several straight days.
Even
if the industry started slowly in January, analysts still expect sales
to be over 16 million this year — a return to pre-recession levels — as
customers go shopping again once the weather gets warm. Old cars need to
be replaced, low-interest financing is abundant and the companies are
introducing exciting new vehicles. Last year, total U.S. sales rose 8
percent, or by 1.1 million vehicles, to 15.6 million.
For January,
most analysts are predicting sales at an annual rate of around 15.6
million, about a 2.5 percent increase from last January.
Detweiler
is hoping that those who didn’t leave their homes during the streak of
bad weather will venture out and buy in February.
"Historically, a
lot of times when they’re stuck in the house, they end up researching
cars," he said. "Sometimes we have a good month the next month because
of really bad weather."
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.