Toyota passes Ford as second largest automaker in the U.S.; Mazda grows the most in 2007
The final sales numbers for 2007 are in, and to be honest, they're better than we expected. Of the 34 brands we track sales, 19 showed an improvement in their daily average sales rate last year. The majority of those that didn't, we're sad to say, are either domestic U.S. brands or brands that are owned by a domestic U.S. automaker.
Big ups to Mazda, though, which won our coveted Biggest Winner of the Year honor by growing its daily average sales rate 9.8% and selling nearly 300,000 vehicles. We can't say we're surprised that Jaguar is our Biggest Loser of the Year after posting daily average sales rate that fell 24.4% last year. We'd also like to call out Jeep for posting a 3.0% improvement thanks to the hot-selling Wrangler Unlimited, as well as Lincoln, which, despite all odds, increased its daily average sales rate by 8.8% and sold an additional 11,000 vehicles last year. There are other plenty of other proud automakers in the list below we don't have room (or time) to mention.
Of course, the biggest news in auto sales for 2007 is that Ford Motor Company was supplanted by Toyota Motor Company as the second largest automaker in the U.S. Toyota sold 2,620,825 units in 2007 compared to Ford's 2,572,599. We weren't all that impressed with ToMoCo's final tally of a 2.7% daily average sales rate increase, but that's all it needed after Ford posted a 12.7% decrease. General Motors, of course, is still well ahead of both with 3,866,620 units sold, while Chrysler could be breathing down Ford's neck with 2,076,650 sales if we expected that number would increase in 2008, which we don't.
Note that there were 307 selling days last year compared to 306 selling days in 2006, so the figures below represent the change in daily average sales rate (average number of vehicles sold per day) and not the change in raw number of units sold.
Biggest Winner of the Year
Mazda
9.8% at 296,110 (2006: 268,786)
Biggest Loser of the Year
Jaguar
24.4% at 15,683 (2006: 20,683)
BRANDS
Acura
10.8% at 180,104 (2006: 201,223)
Audi
3.4% at 93,506 (2006: 90,116)
BMW
6.7% at 293,795 (2006: 274,432)
Buick
23% at 185,791 (2006: 240,657)
Cadillac
5.7% at 214,726 (2006: 227,014)
Chevrolet
6.5% at 2,265,641 (2006: 2,415,428)
Chrysler
10.5% at 543,011 (2006: 604,874)
Dodge
2.1% at 1,058,402 (2006: 1,077,579)
Ford
13.9% at 2,101,244 (2006: 2,433,086)
GMC
4.8% at 505,746 (12/06: 481,222)
Honda
4.5% at 1,371,438 (2006: 1,308,135)
HUMMER
22% at 55,986 (2006: 71,524)
Hyundai
2.2% at 467,009 (2006: 455,520)
Infiniti
4.5% at 127,038 (2006: 121,146)
Jaguar
24.4% at 15,683 (2006: 20,683)
Jeep
3.0% at 475,237 (2006: 460,052)
Kia
3.5% at 305,473 (2006: 294,302)
Land Rover
3.4% at 49,550 (2006: 47,774)
Lexus
1.8% at 329,177 (2006: 322,434)
Lincoln
8.8% at 131,487 (2006: 120,476)
Mazda
9.8% at 296,110 (2006: 268,786)
Mercedes
1.8% at 253,433 (2006: 248,080)
Mercury
7.2% at 168,422 (2006: 180,848)
MINI
7.0% at 42,045 (2006: 39,171)
Nissan
4.5% at 941,200 (2006: 898,103)
Pontiac
13% at 358,022 (2006: 410,229)
Porsche
1.0% at 34,693 (2006: 34,227)
Saab
10.3% at 32,711 (2006: 36,349)
Saturn
5.7% at 240,091 (2006: 226,375)
Subaru
7.0% at 187,208 (2006: 200,703)
Suzuki
0.6% at 101,884 (2006: 100,990)
Toyota
2.9% at 2,291,648 (2006: 2,220,090)
Volkswagen
2.3 at 230,572 (2006: 235,140)
Volvo
8.6% at 106,213 (2006: 115,807)
NA: Mitsubishi
COMPANIES
BMW Group
6.7% at 335,840 (2006: 313,603)
Chrysler Group
3.4% at 2,076,650 (2006: 2,142,505)
Ford Motor Co
12.1% at 2,572,599 (2006: 2,918,674)
General Motors
6.5% at 3,866,620 (2006: 4,124,645)
Honda America
2.5% at 1,551,542 (2006: 1,509,358)
Nissan North America
4.5% at 1,068,238 (2006: 1,019,249)
Toyota Motor Co.
2.7% at 2,620,825 (2006: 2,542,524)
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Big ups to Mazda, though, which won our coveted Biggest Winner of the Year honor by growing its daily average sales rate 9.8% and selling nearly 300,000 vehicles. We can't say we're surprised that Jaguar is our Biggest Loser of the Year after posting daily average sales rate that fell 24.4% last year. We'd also like to call out Jeep for posting a 3.0% improvement thanks to the hot-selling Wrangler Unlimited, as well as Lincoln, which, despite all odds, increased its daily average sales rate by 8.8% and sold an additional 11,000 vehicles last year. There are other plenty of other proud automakers in the list below we don't have room (or time) to mention.
Of course, the biggest news in auto sales for 2007 is that Ford Motor Company was supplanted by Toyota Motor Company as the second largest automaker in the U.S. Toyota sold 2,620,825 units in 2007 compared to Ford's 2,572,599. We weren't all that impressed with ToMoCo's final tally of a 2.7% daily average sales rate increase, but that's all it needed after Ford posted a 12.7% decrease. General Motors, of course, is still well ahead of both with 3,866,620 units sold, while Chrysler could be breathing down Ford's neck with 2,076,650 sales if we expected that number would increase in 2008, which we don't.
Note that there were 307 selling days last year compared to 306 selling days in 2006, so the figures below represent the change in daily average sales rate (average number of vehicles sold per day) and not the change in raw number of units sold.
Biggest Winner of the Year
Mazda
Biggest Loser of the Year
Jaguar
BRANDS
Acura
Audi
BMW
Buick
Cadillac
Chevrolet
Chrysler
Dodge
Ford
GMC
Honda
HUMMER
Hyundai
Infiniti
Jaguar
Jeep
Kia
Land Rover
Lexus
Lincoln
Mazda
Mercedes
Mercury
MINI
Nissan
Pontiac
Porsche
Saab
Saturn
Subaru
Suzuki
Toyota
Volkswagen
Volvo
NA: Mitsubishi
COMPANIES
BMW Group
Chrysler Group
Ford Motor Co
General Motors
Honda America
Nissan North America
Toyota Motor Co.
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