March 2010 monthly sales

Hard times? What hard times? Tough economy? I don't know what you're talking about! Read this: The increase in sales year-over-year for the month of March 2010 is of 14.1%. We've all heard about the recent economic downturn, which is usually followed by an economic upswing, but this is a literal economic upper-cut!

Massive gains of over 50% were had by Infiniti, Audi and Acura. Other huge increases were had by Land Rover, BMW and Jaguar. Luxury car purchases in trouble? Not in this economy...

Ford continues to roll like nobody's business delivering 21,996 new vehicles (a 29.2% gain), besting Chrysler's 19,402, a 22.4% jump in sales.

General Motors is the only maker to have suffered a significant loss last month. Its sales of 19,383 units represents a drop of 21.5% compared to last year.

As a final tidbit of info, import nameplates are up 21.1% while GM, Ford and Chrysler nameplates grew by 5.6%.

March	Current Month			YTD
	2010	2009	10/09	2010	2009	10/09
Acura	1824	1211	50.6%	3398	3300	3.0%
Audi	1480	979	51.2%	3230	1994	62.0%
BMW	2455	1711	43.5%	4916	3781	30.0%
Chrysler	19402	15846	22.4%	45219	38939	16.1%
Ford	21996	17021	29.2%	51446	39776	29.3%
General Motors	19383	24695	-21.5%	48046	50168	-4.2%
Honda	12565	11359	10.6%	26301	23870	10.2%
Hyundai	11012	8818	24.9%	25598	20337	25.9%
Infiniti	888	581	52.8%	1756	1402	25.2%
Jaguar	78	57	36.8%	148	132	12.1%
Kia	4437	3555	24.8%	9854	7601	29.6%
Land Rover	249	171	45.6%	604	466	29.6%
Lexus	1303	1363	-4.4%	3158	2666	18.5%
Mazda	8152	7060	15.5%	17252	15876	8.7%
Mercedes-Benz	2762	2181	26.6%	6259	4778	31.0%
MINI	324	307	5.5%	974	543	24.1%
Mitsubishi	2167	1983	9.3%	4812	4536	6.1%
Nissan	7729	7024	10.0%	16282	15179	7.3%
Porsche	170	172	-1.2%	374	364	2.7%
Saab	-	172	-100.0%	-	263	-100.0%
smart	230	212	8.5%	437	443	-1.4%
Subaru	2503	1878	33.3%	5956	4327	37.6%
Suzuki	954	948	0.6%	2170	2278	-4.7%
Toyota	18489	14538	27.2%	38526	33640	14.5%
Volkswagen	4272	3156	35.4%	9425	6770	39.2%
Volvo	604	491	23.0%	1411	1140	23.8%
Light Vehicles Sales	145428	127489	14.1%	327569	284569	15.0%
Passenger Car	70183	65554	7.1%	151279	142083	6.5%
Light Truck	75245	61935	21.5%	175973	142486	23.5%
GM/Ford/Chrysler Nameplate	60781	57562	5.6%	144711	128883	12.3%
Import Nameplates	84647	69927	21.1%	182541	155686	17.2%
Sales History	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	10/09
January	86.2	91.2	102.8	76.9	81.6	6.2%
February	97.4	97.0	111.0	80.2	100.2	24.9%
March	151.3	150.7	150.0	127.5	145.4	14.1%
April	155.1	169.0	175.2	143.9
May	168.2	185.5	184.5	154.0
June	157.3	169.2	159.5	138.5
July	141.6	142.4	149.5	139.9
August	153.6	158.4	147.0	135.4
September	135.8	131.8	134.1	129.5
October	118.4	120.9	122.7	121.5
November	123.5	117.3	105.2	102.1
December	126.3	119.9	94.4	111.2
Full Year	1614.7	1653.4	1636.0	1460.6
Note: Sales figures above are in thousands.

Source : Desrosiers Automotive Report