November New Car Sales Dip amid Fewer Selling Days, but Recovery Goes On

From Car and Driver

• November new-vehicle sales saw an overall decline year over year, but much of it was attributable to the low number of selling days in November.

• Toyota and Hyundai both saw sales decline based on volume, but when adjusted for the daily selling rate, the automakers saw their sales increase in November as compared to last year.

• Despite the negative data, the auto industry is continuing its improvement from lows in April as a result of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

November new-vehicle sales numbers are rolling in, and at first glance, the results would suggest that the consistent recovery we've seen since sales bottomed out in April has ended. Compared with November 2019, Toyota saw sales drop 1 percent, Hyundai had sales fall 9 percent, and Mazda's sales were down 10.8 percent.

Without adjusting for number of selling days, J.D. Power projects, November sales fell 14.6 percent year over year. Yet, November 2020 had three fewer selling days—for just 23 in total—than November of last year, along with one less weekend. Adjusting for those factors, J.D. Power estimated that November sales dropped just 3.5 percent.

"November 2020 is a prime example of why accounting for selling day differences is important in measuring comparable sales performance," Thomas King, president of the data and analytics division at J.D. Power, said in a note. "After two consecutive months of year-over-year retail sales gains, a quirk in the November sales calendar will result in new-vehicle retail sales appearing to fall 12 percent."

Toyota’s sales fell in November, but on a daily-selling-rate basis—which takes into account the discrepancy of selling days in November—Toyota’s sales were up 12.6 percent as compared to last year. Toyota's trucks and SUVs showed particular strength with the divisions seeing sales jump by 14.1 and 12.6 percent, respectively, based on daily selling rate. Just based on volume, truck sales grew 1 percent while SUV sales fell 0.6 percent. The Highlander, 4Runner, and Tacoma showed particular strength, as well as the Camry among the car division.

Ford, which returned to releasing monthly sales figures in October, saw sales drop 20.9 percent in November as compared to last year. Ford's formidable trucks division also took a 20.9 percent drop in sales, with F-150 sales falling 45.9 percent; the automaker faulted low inventories and the transition to the new F-150 as the reasons why sales fell. Ford SUVs fell by 16.1 percent, but the Explorer's sales grew by 21.9 percent, a sign that Ford's most popular SUV has recovered since its launch back in early 2019.