84Cressida

You think they'll do that GS deal again? I'd love to get my dad into one, or the new IS.

GS69

Mitsubishi Motors Reports Outlander Sport Sales Rise 15.4 Percent In December

Mitsubishi Motors North America (MMNA) today reported December was its second-best-ever month of sales for Outlander Sport, up 15.4 percent compared to December 2011.

Outlander Sport sales were 1,770 for the month, exceeded only by the 2,253 sales in September of this year. Sales during the 2012 calendar year for the fuel-efficient CUV, now manufactured in Normal, Illinois, were up almost 20 percent compared to the prior year.

Lancer Evolution sales improved 39 percent in December and over the past 12 months have showed an increase of almost 19 percent.

Overall Mitsubishi sales were 4,113 units, an increase of more than 15 percent from November, but down 18 percent compared to December 2011.

Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc., (MMNA) is responsible for all manufacturing, sales and marketing operations for Mitsubishi Motors in the United States. MMNA sells cars and light trucks through a network of approximately 400 dealers. For more information, contact the Mitsubishi Motors News Bureau at (888) 560-6672 or visit media.mitsubishicars.com.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

fantastic month on the gs, that's a great number!!!! it's great to see how many gs they sold in 2012, i think that's great indication. good thing lexus focused a lot on the gs in december to completely pull up the gs sales, rather than just let them sit

the bmw number is almost unreal. as much as with all the discounts, is the economy really that good? so many new cars around!

ST430

Good month for FR-S sales! Let's hope the trend continues! :thumbsup

May 86
Jun 2684
Jul 1649
Aug 1913
Sep 1133
Oct 1107
Nov 1350
Dec 1495

jwong77

Well, it looks like both the FR-S and the BRZ are on this list of sold out cars, http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-...ock-2013-01-03

So perhaps, they won't really be able to go up further until they increase capacity.

ST430

If its due to supply constraints, how did they ship 2600 in the 2nd month (and 1900 in the 3rd month)?

jwong77

I don't know, just reporting what I saw. But I imagine there might have been issues with suppliers? Could be a bunch of reasons. Maybe somebody in the know can answer that?

doublehh03

I don't know why people are surprised at the discounts. Luxury carmakers give a ton of discounts a lot of the times, moreso than the parent companies. IF you have to pay above invoice for a luxury car, you're getting screwed. That was why when my friend bought the new 3 series a month after it came out, it shook my head. Wait a few months and u could get that for like 3-4k cheaper.

LexFather

We are well aware, we buy luxury cars and don't just talk about them. We've been reporting these results for close to a decade now including incentives.

GS rarely offered incentives, now people care? It obviously worked and the GS was 3rd best selling in class, a distant third

It's the best driving car in class and glad to see over 2700 people picked it up last month.

spwolf

sales did not start right away in the world, US started first... plus for starters they build up inventory.

Right now between US and Japan, they make around 50k a year of them, so they are maxing their production as Subaru has currently limited production space available, i think they might be expanding their factories right now.

But generally, all Subaru factories are running at over/capacity for the past year.

LexFather

^^^ yeah frs/brz/gt86 sales are supply limited. They are selling every last one they can build worldwide. The car is beyond a tremendous success!

GS69

AutoMakers Close Out 2012 Strong

U.S. light-vehicle sales -- led by Volkswagen, BMW and Honda -- jumped 9% in December, pushing the seasonally adjusted sales rate above 15.3 million for the 2nd consecutive month and helping the industry finish 2012 on a high note.

Automakers sold 14.49 million light vehicles in the U.S. market last year, up 13% from 2011, for the highest mark since 2007. It was the 3rd-straight annual gain of at least 10%, the 1st such industry streak since 1973.

"If you want to hang your hat on something that's really improved in our industry, it's the North American auto business," said George Magliano, senior principal economist for IHS Automotive in New York. "It's a shining piece of U.S. manufacturing."

Automakers and analysts expect U.S. sales to continue rebounding in 2013, albeit at at a slower pace, with some forecasts as high as 15.6 million light vehicles.

The National Automobile Dealers Association said Thursday it expects 2013 sales to increase by another 1 million units.

"With last year's tax policy extended and government spending cuts likely in future months, there will be a modest expected decline in purchases of vehicles by the federal and other governments, but not serious damage to the large bulk of consumer purchases of cars and trucks as the economy continues to grow," said Paul Taylor, NADA's chief economist.

December's sales pace of 15.38 million fell just shy of November's 15.56 million, which was the industry's strongest month since January 2008.

Pent-up demand, year-end deals, low-rate financing and easing credit terms are driving the industry's sales.

"People are much more confident about jobs; banks and other credit institutions are much more willing to lend," said Mustafa Mohatarem, GM's chief economist. "You're seeing the customer continue to come back into the marketplace."

Compelling new models

Jesse Toprak, chief market analyst for TrueCar, said the latest car and truck models, often equipped with more features, are also compelling U.S. consumers to consider a new-vehicle purchase after several years of austerity.

Chrysler, which analysts had predicted would lose market share in 2012, increased annual sales more than any major automaker other than Toyota and Honda, automakers that rebounded sharply from the 2011 earthquake in Japan.

Volkswagen Group's VW brand and Honda Motor Co. led all automakers last month, outpacing the Detroit 3, Toyota Motor Corp., the Hyundai-Kia Group and Nissan Motor Co.

The VW brand -- helped by newer models such as the mid-sized Passat and compact Jetta -- posted a December U.S. sales gain of 35%. VW sales for the year rose 35% to more than 438,000 units.

December marked the 16th straight month VW's U.S. sales have climbed 22% or more.

Jonathan Browning, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, said the company's sales growth will taper off in 2013.
Toyota Motor Sales reported a 9% December sales increase and said 2012 U.S. deliveries rose 27% to 2.08 million. It expects more gains in 2013.

"The Passat and Beetle have been in the market for over a year, so we won't get the same step-up as last year," Browning said today. "We do expect to grow faster than the industry in total."

American Honda said sales rose 26% to 132,774 units last month, driven by demand for the new Accord, Civic and CR-V.

Healthy retail demand, year-end discounts and a surge in car deliveries helped Chrysler Group report a 10% gain in December.

Toyota Motor Sales reported a 9% December sales increase and said 2012 deliveries rose 27% to 2.08 million.

General Motors' sales rose 5% last month and 4% for all of 2012. Buick and Cadillac led the December gains, with advances of 5% and 12%, respectively. Chevrolet deliveries were up 4%.

GM cited strong retail demand and higher deliveries of cars, crossovers and pickup trucks for the company's December results.

Ford Motor Co. said December sales rose 2%, as the Ford Division advanced 2% and Lincoln fell 12%. Ford's sales for the year rose 5%.

Fuel-efficiency

Last month's SAAR of 15.38 million compares with a rate of 13.6 million in December 2011. The United States averaged 16.8 million light-vehicle deliveries annually from 2000 to 2007, before volume dropped to 10.4 million in 2009, a 27-year low, amid the financial crisis and credit squeeze.

Automakers are benefiting from the introduction of more fuel-efficient vehicles.

GM said it sold more than 1 million vehicles in the United States last year that achieve an EPA-estimated 30 mpg or more on the highway.

Toyota Motor said its hybrid-vehicle volume jumped nearly 83% last year, with sales of the expanded Prius family rising 75% to 236,000.

Ford said its small car sales soared 29% to 316,006 units last year, including 13,309 deliveries of the new C-Max hybrid.

Honda said the Civic set a December sales record of 33,118 units -- up 61% from 2011.

Fiat led all Chrysler brands with a 59% gain last month, the company said. For 2012, Fiat's U.S. sales of the 500 mini car line more than doubled to 43,772.

December sales rose 26% at Dodge and 16% at the Ram brand, but Jeep volume slipped for the 3rd consecutive month, reflecting the end of Liberty production in August.

Chrysler's car sales rose 30% last month while light-truck deliveries increased 4%.

For all of 2012, Chrysler's U.S. sales increased 21% to 1.65 million.

Chrysler Group's discounts averaged $3,206 per model last month, among the highest among automakers, TrueCar estimates.

It was the 33rd straight month Chrysler has posted an increase in U.S. sales as the automaker heads towards its 3rd consecutive year of market-share gains. Chrysler's share of U.S. sales stood at 11.4% through November, up from 10.7% during the same period of 2011.

Hyundai's U.S. sales rose 17% in December and gained 9% in 2012, CEO John Krafcik said Hyundai sold 59,435 vehicles last month and a record-setting 703,007 units last year.

At Nissan Motor Co., December sales slipped 2%, with volume at the Nissan brand down 4% and Infiniti up 15%. For all of 2012, Nissan Motor's U.S. sales rose 10%, with the Nissan brand setting a sales record of 1.02 million.

Kia Motors' U.S. sales declined -- for the 1st time in more than 2 years -- by 10% last month to 39,178 vehicles. The automaker's previous monthly drop was in August 2010, when industry-wide sales results were skewed by numbers inflated a year earlier by the U.S. government's Cash for Clunkers vehicle scrappage program.

Despite the dip last month, Kia sold a record 557,599 vehicles in the U.S. market in 2012, a 15% increase over last year.

Healthy streak

U.S. consumers continue to replace cars and trucks that are, on average, the oldest ever on America's roads. The average age of vehicles on U.S. roads is about 11 years, according to researchers at Experian Automotive and R.L. Polk & Co.

"It sure feels a lot better to be selling cars today than a few years ago," Geoffrey Pohanka, president of the Pohanka Automotive Group, told Bloomberg. "The age of the fleet and the attractiveness of a lot of cars that are being designed now are going to help sustain sales going forward."

Pohanka's Washington, D.C.-area dealer group is expanding only a few years after retrenchment. Pohanka closed 3 Saturn stores and a Chrysler-Dodge dealership as part of the 2009 restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler Group. In 2013, he plans to build a 2nd Honda store in as many years and also will add a new VW dealership.

Sales are also being driven by a steady, though sometimes choppy, economic recovery, despite high unemployment. U.S. gasoline prices have also moderated, providing another boost for automakers.

"The budget compromise reached in Washington this week removes uncertainty and clears the way for full-year light vehicle sales to rise to the 15 million to 15.5 million unit range in 2013," Kurt McNeil, head of U.S. sales operations for GM, said in a statement.

But Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, chief economist for Ford, said today the automaker planned to gauge the impact of higher U.S. payrolls taxes and "how consumers are going to substitute and economize on certain purchases."

GM, Ford, Hyundai-Kia and Nissan lost U.S. market share in 2012, while Toyota, Chrysler, Honda and the Volkswagen Group gained share.

Sandy demand

Lingering replacement demand from owners of damaged vehicles and purchases deferred by superstorm Sandy on the East Coast may have boosted vehicle sales by about 50,000 in December, Credit Suisse Group AG estimated in a report late last month.

TrueCar.com estimates industry incentives averaged $2,409 per model in December, up 4.3% from November but down 9% from December 2011.

GM hiked incentives on its trucks last month after warning it may end the year with more Chevrolet Silverados and GM Sierras than it planned.

At the end of December, GM had 221,649 full-size pickups on hand, almost reaching its year-end target of 200,000 to 220,000. Deliveries of the Chevrolet Silverado rose 6.1% to 50,699 in December.

Many luxury brands offered year-end and holiday specials to drive showroom traffic and sales.

In December, Porsche's U.S. sales rose 61%. For all of 2012, sales rose 21% to a record 35,043 vehicles, topping Porsche's previous peak of 34,693 in 2007.

Porsche executives are looking for another increase in 2013 as the manufacturer moves toward its goal of selling 50,000 vehicles in the United States by 2018.

"We hope to solidify our position as the world's strongest Porsche market," Detlev von Platen, CEO of Porsche Cars North America Inc., said in a statement. "We look forward to the introduction of several new products in 2013, including the Cayenne Turbo S and Cayman this spring."

bagwell

Hybrid/PHEV/EV sales...

http://insideevs.com/december-2012-p...s-report-card/

December 2012 Plug-In Electric Vehicle Sales Report Card
23 hours ago by Jay Cole 25

December of 2012 will close out as the strongest month on record for plug-in vehicle sales, as the ever-widening choices of plug-in vehicles continue to expand, and consumers look to book their 2012 federal tax credit (up to $7,500) before years end.

This model-by-model list is populated as it is reported in real time by each manufacturer throughout the day. So if you don’t see your EV’s sales listed yet, just sit tight, it is coming.

(last update: Thursday, January 3rd @ 3:55pm – RAV4 EV…more figures to come)


2012 Chevrolet Volt
Chevrolet Volt: GM rebounded from a less than impressive November result to post a near-best 2,633 sales for December.

December’s result brings the Volt’s year-end total up to 23,451, triple that of 2011.

During a holiday shorted work schedule, GM’s Hamtramck facility produced 1,509 Volts (and 6 Amperas), which may adversely affect sales in the first month of 2013. Sales PDF from GM can be found here, production PDF here.


2012 Nissan LEAF

Nissan LEAF: In December Nissan sold 1,489 LEAFs, bringing its yearly total to just under 10,000 at 9,819.

Thanks to massive discount program (as much as $9,775 by one dealer) offered to move inventory before the announcement of a better and cheaper US-made LEAF, Nissan has been enjoying a sales resurgence of late.

In November 1,539 73-mile EVs were sold, narrowly missing the year-high of 1,579 LEAFs sold in October, which obliterated Nissan’s previous best effort of the year.


2013 Tesla Model S
Tesla Model S: Tesla does not give out exact monthly sales. However, consistent SEC filings, factory reports and tweets lets us be fairly accurate.

By most estimates, Tesla had sold around 700-800 Model S sedans going into December, and Tesla reconfirmed as late as mid-November that it would still deliver at least 2,700-3,225 by year’s end.

However, by the start of December, it seemed fairly obviously that Tesla would not be able to achieve sales of 2,000-odd units for the month. To improve results, Tesla then sent out emails early in the month to almost all reservation holders expecting delivery of their Model S in January (and some February) to “move up” their paperwork to log sales into December, regardless if the car did not actually get delivered in the month.

Even still, the highest VIN we seen allocated by Tesla by the cutoff was around 3,100, and all the VINS are not built and delivered sequentially. We estimate Tesla delivered (or at least quasi-delivered) around 1,500 cars in December, bringing the yearly total to about 2,300. We will know for sure when the company reports Q4 results in a couple weeks.


Fisker Karma
Fisker Karma: Like Tesla, Fisker does not report monthly sales. Fisker also is not keen to report bad news until the last possible moment…probably because they haven’t built a thing since July.

This will probably Fisker’s last month on the sales round-up chart here at InsideEVs as results are near meaningless.

Henrik Fisker last month said Fisker has sold almost 2,000 Karmas in total, and playing the “highest VIN we can find game” netted us around 2,700, which leaves about 700 still available to be sold…that is until you consider that Fisker lost 338 of those Karmas to Superstorm Sandy. making the available pool of Karmas left around 350 units, 140 of which are still in US inventory.

2013 Toyota Prius Plug-In
Toyota Prius Plug-In: In December, Toyota had another relatively strong month considering the amount of Prius-alike nameplate competing for customer’s attention. 1,361 PIPs were sold, bringing the car’s yearly total up to 12,750.


2013 Ford C-Max Energi
Ford C-Max Energi: NO DATA REPORTED YET…Ford takes an additional day to breakdown plug-in sales (so see you tomorrow)

In November, the C-Max Energi’s first full month on the market, Ford sold 1,259 copies.

It is also worth nothing that these 1,259 sales came almost 100% outside the state of California, the largest purchaser of plug-in vehicles in the nation.

2013 Honda Fit EV
Honda Fit EV: Another month of lackluster interest in Honda’s all-electric car netted only 19 sales.

Since its introduction, the Honda Fit EV has been met with a huge shrugging of the shoulders by the US car buyer as the Japanese automaker has been unable to entice anymore than a handful of buyers.

To illustrate how poor sales have been for Honda, last month they set an all-time high of 26 Fit EVs sold.

Looking ahead, the Accord Plug-In should pump up the overall plug-in number for the company, as Honda said the car would go on sale starting January 15th, 2013 (in California and Oregon).

In November, Honda released more details and pricing ($39,780) on the 13 mile extended range hybrid. At a price close to $40,000, adoption of the plug-in is expected to be fairly low.


2013 Ford Focus Electric
Ford Focus Electric: NO DATA REPORTED YET (and will not be until tomorrow)

Thanks to an ever-widening dealer base in anticipation of selling C-Max and Fusion Energis, Ford posted its best result to date in Novmber on its electric Focus with 179 EVs sold, so we look forward to seeing December’s results.


Continuing to Ruin our "All Black" Motif Of EVs, the All-new 2013 Toyota RAV4 EV
Toyota RAV4 EV: After suffering its second month of sales decreases in November, Toyota slashed the MSRP on the RAV4 EV by as much as $7,500 in hopes to both move metal and book much needed ZEV (zero emission vehicle) credits before year’s end.

However, the program was not that big of a success as Toyota ended up still only selling 52 RAV4 EVs, as compared to 32 last month.



2012 Mitsubishi i
Mitsubishi i-MiEV: Some heavier discounting during the month helped Mitsubishi to one of its better results of late, as the company sold 77 i-MiEVs this month.

In November, Mitsu broke a string of selling thirty-something i-MiEVs a month for what seemed like an eternity, as they sold 42 during the month.

To say Mitsubishi’s monthly results are (if nothing else), consistent, would be an understatement. Here are the previous seven month results: 77-42-33-33-37-36-30

Like Honda with the Accord plug-in, the new Outlander PHEV (due out mid 2013), can’t start selling soon enough to prop up Mitsubishi’s plug-in asperations.

GS69

December's Fastest & Slowest Selling Cars

Automakers won't report December sales results until later today, but we have data on the month's fastest and slowest sellers. The redesigned Toyota Avalon hit dealerships in the 1st week of December, and it stormed the fastest-selling list, with regular and hybrid versions averaging just 8 days apiece on dealer lots. Shoppers moved toward the Ford F-Series Super Duty pickup truck, too. That’s likely a result of an improved construction market; November housing starts hit their 2nd highest rate since mid-2008.

The redesigned Mercedes-Benz GL-Class, which hit dealerships in September, spent its 3rd month among the fastest sellers; the new-for-2013 Subaru XV Crosstrek also marked its 3rd month on the list. Of the 18 fastest-selling cars, 10 were repeat performers, with such regulars as the redesigned Subaru Impreza and new Scion FR-S. The Kia Soul's severe mileage downgrade doesn't seem to have sapped demand, and neither has the popular hatchback's age. It debuted way back in early 2009, but in December it placed among the fastest sellers for the 3rd month in a row.

On the flip side, the Acura ILX spent its 2nd month on the Losers list (the ILX Hybrid made November's list). Have buyers snubbed it for the related and less expensive Civic from parent company Honda? The Civic's substantial updates narrow the quality gap between the 2, and buyers in December flocked toward the revised Honda, which averaged just 10 days on dealer lots. Stay tuned to see how both cars fare in today's sales results.

Cars in December 2012 averaged 33 days to turn. That's an uptick versus both November 2012's 28 days and December 2011's 29 days. As is custom this time of year, we looked only at 2013 inventory in December since dealers have cleared out the majority of 2012s. Here are the fastest and slowest sellers:

December Movers

2013 Mercedes-Benz GL350 Bluetec: 7 days
2013 Subaru XV Crosstrek: 7 days
2013 GMC Acadia: 8 days
2013 Toyota Avalon: 8 days
2013 Toyota Avalon Hybrid: 8 days
2013 Ford F-250 crew cab: 10 days
2013 Ford F-350 crew cab: 10 days
2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid: 10 days
2013 Honda Civic sedan: 10 days
2013 Nissan Pathfinder: 11 days
2013 Subaru Impreza hatchback: 12 days
2013 Audi Q5: 13 days
2013 Mercedes-Benz GL450: 13 days
2013 Scion FR-S: 14 days
2013 Toyota Prius v: 14 days
2013 BMW 328i xDrive sedan: 15 days
2013 Buick Enclave: 15 days
2013 Kia Soul: 15 days

December Losers

2013 Chevrolet Malibu Eco: 135 days
2013 Mazda6: 123 days
2013 Volvo XC90: 99 days
2013 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid: 99 days
2013 Acura ILX Hybrid: 96 days
2013 Smart ForTwo convertible: 91 days
2013 Volkswagen CC: 84 days
2013 Nissan GT-R: 82 days
2013 Kia Forte hatchback: 76 days
2013 Acura ILX: 76 days

Cars.com Picks

2013 Dodge Durango: 52 days
2013 Volkswagen Golf four-door: 54 days
2013 Infiniti EX37: 56 days
2013 Chevrolet Malibu: 57 days
2013 Lexus GS 350: 66 days

About the Lists
The Fastest- and Slowest-Selling Cars list reports the average number of days it takes to sell models from the day they arrive on the lot until the final paperwork is signed by a buyer. This is not a days-of-inventory list like you may find on other websites. We look exclusively at 2013s now, calling the fastest sellers Movers and the slowest ones Losers.

For Movers, we only list vehicles that pass a certain threshold of sales in order to weed out limited editions, ultra-high-performance cars and others that might skew the numbers or otherwise inaccurately portray popularity. To highlight all slow sellers, losers have no such threshold.

Our Picks highlight cars that take a significant time before they're sold and might be overlooked by shoppers. Dealers could be more motivated to sell these cars.

doublehh03

The new GS has had fairly great incentives since its release. The incentives this month were simply off the chain that was all. Those were basically Black Friday incentives. But since its December, it's not strange every automaker will have incentives to get all the inventory out.