Despite today being April Fools' Day, not one of the sales figures reported by automakers below for the month of March 2009 is a joke. The U.S. auto industry's sales slide continues, and despite the overall market selling more vehicles in March versus February, nearly all brands fell versus the same month in 2008.
The lone notable exceptions are Subaru and Kia. These two brands have ignored industry trends all year long, and this month Subaru posted a small 2.6% loss in sales volume versus last year. Adjusted for the daily average sales rate, however, Subaru sales were up 1.3%. Likewise, Kia's sales by volume were down just 0.6%, but its DSR was up by 3.4%. Hyundai also continues to hold its own, reporting a 4.8% fall in sales volume versus March 2008.
As for the rest of the industry, it appears that the performance gap between import and domestic automakers is narrowing, with Honda (-36.3%), Nissan (-37.7%) and Toyota (-39.0%) all reporting sales declines much closer to those of Chrysler (-39.3%), Ford (-40.9%) and General Motors (-44.7%). In fact, we've read a number of reports this afternoon that claim domestic sales were not as bad as expected. And that ain't no joke.
| BY THE NUMBERS - March 2009 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Vol. % Change | Total Sales 3/09 | Total Sales 3/08 | DSR* % Change | Daily Avg. 3/09 | Daily Avg. 3/08 |
 Acura | -32.2% | 9,005 | 13,288 | -29.5% | 360 | 511 |
 Audi | -19.4% | 6,433 | 7,986 | -16.2% | 257 | 307 |
 BMW | -24.2% | 17,520 | 23,115 | -21.2% | 701 | 889 |
 Buick | -40.2% | 7,369 | 12,317 | -37.8% | 295 | 474 |
 Cadillac | -53.0% | 8,209 | 17,453 | -51.1% | 328 | 671 |
 Chevrolet | -42.5% | 94,704 | 164,564 | -40.1% | 3,788 | 6,329 |
 Chrysler | -51.9% | 19,502 | 40,539 | -50.0% | 780 | 1,559 |
 Dodge | -32.8% | 57,728 | 85,906 | -30.1% | 2,309 | 3,304 |
 Ford | -41.7% | 109,490 | 187,828 | -39.4% | 4,380 | 7,224 |
 GMC | -50.3% | 19,086 | 38,422 | -48.3% | 763 | 1,476 |
 Honda | -36.7% | 79,374 | 125,446 | -34.2% | 3,175 | 4,825 |
 HUMMER | -75.9% | 831 | 3,451 | -75.0% | 33 | 133 |
 Hyundai | -4.8% | 40,721 | 42,796 | -1.0% | 1,629 | 1,646 |
 Infiniti | -47.6% | 7,242 | 13,821 | -45.5% | 290 | 532 |
 Jeep | -40.5% | 23,771 | 39,941 | -38.1% | 951 | 1,536 |
 Kia | -0.6% | 24,724 | 24,871 | 3.4% | 989 | 957 |
 Lexus | -42.9% | 14,239 | 24,939 | -40.6% | 570 | 959 |
 Lincoln | -33.0% | 7,310 | 10,913 | -30.3% | 292 | 420 |
 Mazda | -33.3% | 21,974 | 32,929 | -30.6% | 879 | 1,267 |
 Mercedes | -25.0% | 15,602 | 20,808 | -22.0% | 624 | 800 |
 Mercury | -42.0% | 8,307 | 14,333 | -39.7% | 332 | 551 |
 MINI | -15.9% | 3,605 | 4,289 | -12.6% | 144 | 165 |
 Mitsubishi | -57.0% | 4,620 | 10,750 | -55.3% | 185 | 413 |
 Nissan | -36.2% | 59,392 | 93,100 | -33.7% | 2,376 | 3,581 |
 Pontiac | -30.8% | 17,583 | 25,417 | -28.0% | 703 | 978 |
 Porsche | -29.1% | 1,749 | 2,467 | -26.3% | 70 | 95 |
 Saab | -57.3% | 1,265 | 2,962 | -55.6% | 51 | 114 |
 Saturn | -59.6% | 7,333 | 18,146 | -58.0% | 293 | 698 |
 Subaru | -2.6% | 16,249 | 16,685 | 1.3% | 650 | 642 |
 Suzuki | -24.0% | 7,981 | 10,510 | -21.0% | 319 | 404 |
 Toyota | -38.5% | 118,563 | 192,791 | -36.0% | 4,743 | 7,415 |
 VW | -19.7% | 15,720 | 19,587 | -16.5% | 629 | 753 |
 Volvo | -31.4% | 6,358 | 9,263 | -28.6% | 254 | 356 |
| COMPANIES | ||||||
| BMW Group | -22.9% | 21,125 | 27,404 | -19.8% | 845 | 1,054 |
| Chrysler LLC | -39.3% | 101,001 | 166,386 | -36.9% | 4,040 | 6,399 |
| FoMoCo | -40.9% | 131,465 | 222,337 | -38.5% | 5,259 | 8,551 |
| General Motors | -44.7% | 156,380 | 282,732 | -42.5% | 6,255 | 10,874 |
| Honda America | -36.3% | 88,379 | 138,734 | -33.7% | 3,535 | 5,336 |
| Nissan NA | -37.7% | 66,634 | 106,921 | -35.2% | 2,665 | 4,112 |
| Toyota Mo Co | -39.0% | 132,802 | 217,730 | -36.6% | 5,312 | 8,374 |
