14 automakers + 8 additional car brands saw a decline in sales in the United States

April 6, 2019 by Zachary Shahan

---

Now that we have a truly mainstream electric car in the United States (the 13th best-selling car in the country in the first quarter of 2019 and the best-selling luxury car), I've found it interesting to take a closer look the evolution of global sales of cars and automobiles of all car manufacturers. I meticulously monitor the changes from one month to another and from one quarter to the next using the sales reports of the automakers for this purpose.

As you can see in the title, the following manufacturers saw their sales fall in March 2019 compared to March 2018:

• Fiat (-45%)
• Chrysler (-38%)
• Alfa Romeo (-31%)
• Infiniti (-23%)
• Jeep (-11%)
• Buick (-9%)
• Chevrolet (-8%)
• Dodge (-6%)
• Toyota (-5%)
• Nissan (-5%)
• Mercedes (-5%)
• GMC (-4%)
• Ford (-2%)
• Cadillac (-2%)

The 14 car manufacturers saw their sales fall in all categories / categories of combined vehicles. In most cases, car sales declined even more than total vehicle sales.

In 8 cases as well, a car manufacturer's sales increased, but its car sales decreased compared to the previous year. These builders were:

• Subaru Cars (-22%)
• Lincoln Cars (-17%)
• BMW cars (-15%)
• Volvo Cars (-10%)
• Hyundai Cars (-9%)
• Cars Acura (-7%)
• Audi Cars (-7%)
• Lexus Cars (-6%)

Only 4 automakers experienced overall year-over-year growth and did not experience a decline in car sales:

• RAM (+ 15%)
• Volkswagen (+ 14%)
• Kia (+ 10%)
• Honda (+ 4%)

So, what is the takeaway? The most important thing to remember is that most automakers are hammered in the United States, while Tesla sales have increased (up 110% in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the first quarter of 2018) and some other select automakers recorded a much more modest sales increase.

In total, 14 auto brands saw their sales decline from March 2018 to March 2019, while 8 other brands saw their net sales increase due to lower car sales. It should be noted in the context of the explosion of the Tesla Model 3, as well as the more widespread abandonment of cars in favor of crossovers, SUVs and trucks.

Luxury brands, especially luxury car brands, have been hit hard, which is not particularly surprising since the model 3 is in the category of luxury cars.

What is in the coming months? We will see, but if more than a dozen manufacturers continue to experience declining sales, some of them may face a financial hurdle. Stay tuned.

Interested in buying a Tesla? Need a reference code to get 1,000 miles of free overfeed? Use our: http://ts.la/tomasz7234 (or not – it's up to you).

Keywords: Acura, Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Daimler, Dodge, FCA, Fiat, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford, GM, GMC, Honda, Infiniti, Hyundai, Jeep, Kia, Lexus, Lincoln, Mercedes , Nissan, Ram, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo