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First Quarter 2024 National Auto Sales By Brand: March Sales Up Over 5%

Written by Jerry Reynolds | Apr 8, 2024 3:51:19 PM

U.S. auto sales rose by 5.1% last month and that is versus March of 2023.  Incentives were a big part of the gain, as I’ve been telling you on the Car Pro Show.  Incentive spending averaged roughly $3,150 per vehicle last month, versus just over $1,500 a year ago.  Electric vehicles lead the way with incentives, some as much as $10,000.  Even Tesla, immune from spending incentive money, spent over $6,200 last month.  The EV incentives topped out with the Nissan Ariya at almost $16,000.

As I have been saying, hybrids and plug-in hybrids are the hot commodity right now with 37% of the Toyotas sold in the first quarter were electrified.  Honda and Ford also saw big increases in their hybrid sales, and in an article below you’ll see Ford is further backing down on all-electrics and jumping on the hybrid bandwagon.

One surprise was pickup sales in the first quarter of this year were off for Ford and Ram.  Ford trucks were down 10% from the first quarter of 2024, Ram was off 15%.  Chevrolet and GMC truck sales rose slightly, but overall, full-sized trucks fell to under 12% of the market for the first time in 8 years.  Rising truck prices, high interest rates, and a slowdown in new construction is likely the reason for the decline.

In total sales for the first three months of 2024, the order of volume was quite different than we are used to seeing.  General Motors led the way, with Toyota coming in second, and Ford coming in third.  This in spite of Chevrolet being off a little over 2% from Q1 2023.  In numbers I continue to watch, Hyundai brand was up again, but Kia was down for the fourth straight month.  That is a head scratcher for your friendly content provider.

2024 First Quarter Auto Sales

Here are your winners and losers for the first quarter of 2024, by brand:


  Manufacturer      Q1 2024    vs Q1 2023
1. Toyota
486,687
  21%
2. Ford
479,921
  6%
3. Chevrolet
385,585
 2%
4. Honda
303,451
21%
5. Nissan
238,831 
8%
6. Hyundai
184,804
  1%
7. Kia
179,622
  2%
8. Jeep
157,039
  2%
9. Subaru  
152,996
  7%
10. GMC
124,378 
  2%
11. Mazda
100,103
  13%
12. Ram
95,308
  26%
13. BMW
84,475
  2%
14. Volkswagen
82,101
  21%
15. Lexus
78,471
  15%
       16. Mercedes-Benz
       66,570
         13%
17. Buick
44,385
  16%
18. Audi
44,228
  16
19. Dodge
42,948
  16%
20. Cadillac
35,451
  2%
21. Chrysler
34,807
  9%
22. Volvo
30,951
  17%
23. Acura
30,373
  9%
24. Mitsubishi
28,403
  35%
       25. Lincoln
      24,894
         32%
       26. Jaguar Land Rover
      20,558
        18%
27. Genesis
14,777
  7%
28. INFINITI
13,904
  12%
       29. Porsche
       13,429 
         23%
 30. MINI  
6,369
  13%
        31. Maserati
      2,300 
       105%
 32. Alfa Romeo
2,285
  4%
 33. Lamborghini
936
  18%
 34. Bentley
830
  23%
 35. Rolls-Royce
600
  13%
  36. Fiat
154
  12%
         37. McLaren
       110
         33%

 

Electric Carmakers 

Electric carmakers and a few of the others, send in estimates each quarter.  Here’s how those stacked up in the first quarter according to the estimates reported:

  1. Tesla:  168,500
  2. Rivian: 11,950
  3. Polestar: 1,100
  4. Ineos: 900
  5. Lucid: 600
  6. Vinfast: 300
  7. Karma: 1

Not yet reporting:  Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.

Photo Credit: Andy Dean Photography/Shutterstock.com.