U.S. Auto Sales See a Steep Decline amid Coronavirus Pandemic

From Car and Driver

• Stay-at-home orders prompted by the spread of COVID-19 have brought economies to a screeching halt, and first-quarter auto sales are the first indicators of how detrimental the pandemic has been on car buying.

• FCA has reported a quarterly decline in U.S. sales of 10.4 percent; GM, a decline of 7.1 percent. Hyundai saw its March sales drop by 43 percent.

• Tesla, a company which only reports quarterly global sales, had record-setting first quarter, a divergence from most of the field.

U.S. new-vehicle sales for the first quarter and the month of March are rolling in, and the first indications are that the spread of COVID-19 has led to massive downturns in buying.

This past quarter, Ford had a sales decline of of 12.5 percent, a drop that was buoyed by truck sales as they only fell by 5.4 percent. Lincoln saw an uptick in sales of 2.3 percent, a move that was pushed by the Aviator coming to market in the last year.

FCA reported a 10.4 percent decline in first-quarter sales, a decline cushioned by a 7 percent increase in Ram pickup truck sales. Ram was the only FCA brand to see an increase in sales through the last quarter; Dodge dropped 20 percent and Jeep fell 14 percent.

General Motors saw a decline of 7.1 percent in first-quarter sales. Of GM's brands, Buick took the bulk of the decline with sales falling 34.7 percent this past quarter. Pickups lessened the blow for GM, with the GMC Sierra and Chevy Silverado seeing quarterly sales increases across both heavy- and light-duty lineups.

Sales dropped off similarly for Toyota, falling 36.9 percent in March for the automaker and 8.8 percent for the first quarter. No model in the Toyota or Lexus lineup was spared from the decline.

"As the pandemic rolls across America, consumers’ interest in big ticket purchases like vehicles has all be disappeared," Charlie Chesbrough, a senior economist at Cox Automotive, said in a note. "The second quarter will be the real measure of COVID-19’s impact on the economy and the auto industry."

Tesla only reports quarterly, global sales--U.S. sales data is not available, beyond estimates--had a record first quarter. Across the world, the EV-maker delivered 88,400 vehicles, which surpassed estimates by around 10,000 vehicles. That said, sales were down 21 percent as compared to the fourth quarter of last year.

Hyundai reported a year-over-year decline of 43 percent for the month of March, while the company's quarterly sales declined by 11 percent. With the exception of models that are new for this year, such as the Venue, only the Ioniq saw a quarter-over-quarter increase in sales.

"It goes without saying that the entire world is facing a tremendous challenge that is having a significant impact on business and our normal way of life," Randy Parker, head of sales for Hyundai Motor America, said in a statement. "We know tough days are ahead but we're doing all we can to position the company to survive this and return to the growth trajectory we've been on."

In the first quarter of 2020, Nissan—including Infiniti—saw a sales decline of 29.6 percent. Infiniti saw sales drop across the board with the exception of the QX50, while Nissan had sales increases for the Kicks, Murano, and Pathfinder. Nonetheless, Nissan's popular Rogue took a hit of 36.3 percent this past quarter.