AIADA: Imports Increase Market Share

Import automakers saw their November new-vehicle vehicle sales climb by double digits on a year-over-year basis, and despite a sequential decline in unit sales, imports grabbed a greater share of the U.S. market than they had in October, according to the American International Automobile Dealers Association.

Specifically, November new-vehicle sales for imports in the U.S. hit 483,545 units, which was up 16.5 percent year-over-year, AIADA noted, citing Autodata Corp. statistics. Compared to October, sales were off 6.8 percent.

Through 11 months of the year, international brands moved more than 5.7 million vehicles, up 8.9 percent from the same period of 2009.

U.S. market share for import brands during November was at 55.3 percent, compared with 54.6 percent the prior month.

“The American auto retail industry has a long way to go in terms of recovery, but we are on the right path,” commented Cody Lusk, president of AIADA. “Dealers report that international brand vehicles are making gains by offering customers the value they are looking for in these still-tough times.”

Among the brands listed in the data, some of the larger brands showing the strongest year-over-year improvements were Suzuki (up 51.4 percent), Porsche (up 48.6 percent), Kia (up 48.2 percent), Mitsubishi (up 47.2 percent), Hyundai (up 45.2 percent) and Infiniti (up 45 percent).

AIADA also listed the top 10 overall sellers (including domestics and imports) in the U.S. new-vehicle market during November, six of which were models from import brands.

The top 10 models were as follows:

1. Ford F-Series

2. Chevrolet Silverado

3. Toyota Camry/Solara

4. Nissan Altima

5. Honda CR-V

6. Dodge Ram

7. Ford Fusion

8. Honda Accord

9. Honda Civic

10. Toyota Corolla/Matrix