Market demand weakened US light vehicle sales fell 4.8% in April

According to the data provided by the "Automotive News of the United States", due to the continuous decline in consumer demand in the United States and increasingly fierce competition in the industry, sales of light vehicles in the United States in April fell by 4.8% year-on-year to 1,357,858 units. The data shows that the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate (SAAR) of the US light vehicle market rose to 17.15 million units from 17.74 million last year. It should be pointed out that since GM announced last quarter that it would only report quarterly sales, the total light vehicle sales in the United States and SAAR are forecast data.

In 2017, new light vehicle sales in the United States fell for the first time since 2009. This year, light vehicle sales in the United States have also experienced ups and downs. In January, the sales volume of new light vehicles in the United States increased slightly by 1.2%, but in February, there was a year-on-year decline of 2.3%, and in March sales rebounded.

In April of this year, a total of seven car manufacturers achieved sales growth in the US market (excluding Tesla and McLaren), of which Volvo's growth was double-digit year-on-year, at 17%. In contrast, Nissan’s US sales fell 28% year-on-year in April. Although GM stopped publishing monthly sales, Bloomberg News quoted sources as saying that GM’s US sales in April fell between 2.5% and 3% year-on-year. "The United States Auto News" was calculated with a 2.7% decline, and GM's US sales were 237,900 vehicles last month.

On May 1, local time, Ford Motor announced that it will continue to announce monthly sales. Last month, Ford Motor Co. experienced a 4.5% year-on-year drop, with Ford and Lincoln brands showing 4.1% and 12% year-on-year declines, respectively. Ford Motor pointed out that in April, Ford's car shipments fell 15%, SUV delivery volume fell 4.6% year-on-year, while truck sales increased slightly by 0.9%.

Driven by strong sales of its Jeep brand, Fiat Chrysler (FCA) US sales have grown for two consecutive months. Among them, the Jeep brand sold 82,641 vehicles in the United States last month, a year-on-year increase of 20%, setting a new monthly sales volume in April. At the same time, the Dodge brand under the FCA reversed the trend of falling sales for 10 consecutive months. In April, sales increased by 3.9%. However, the Ram brand, Chrysler, and Fiat brands showed declines of 9%, 18%, and 45%, respectively.

Among Japanese and Korean brands, Nissan, Toyota, and Honda, the two major Japanese brands, also saw year-on-year declines; Subaru’s U.S. sales continued to rise, rising 1.5% year-on-year in April; Mazda’s U.S. sales fell by 4.6%; Hyundai and Kia Brands also showed a year-on-year decline of 11% and 5.2%, respectively.

Last month, Volkswagen Group sold 53,723 vehicles in the United States, up 3.2% year-on-year. Of the five brands sold in the United States, only Bentley experienced a 1.8% decline. Among them, Audi's sales in the United States in April rose by 2.1% to 19,104 units, while the Volkswagen brand sold 28,794 units in the United States last month, a year-on-year increase of 4.5%.