TORRANCE, Calif. -
The first month of 2011 may have brought massive winter storms to much of the U.S., along with a sequential decline in the certified pre-owned industry, but that didn’t keep a slew of brands from experiencing their best-ever respective Januaries on record.
Furthermore, certified sales — though softer from December — climbed double digits from January 2010, according to Autodata Corp.
Specifically, Autodata indicated that there were 123,814 CPO units sold in January. This marks a 13-percent uptick from the prior year and a 10.4-percent decrease from the previous month.
One of the automakers to notch an especially strong January was Honda. Both its Acura and Honda brands achieved all-time high January sales in the CPO segment. Acura moved 4,256 CPO units (up 54.1 percent year-over-year), with the Honda brand hitting CPO sales of 16,256 units (up 20.9 percent).
“We could not have asked for a better start to the new year,” said Dan Crowe, the automaker’s national remarketing manager. “For both Acura and Honda, the dealers set a new sales record for the month of January.”
And despite perhaps “a little bit” of slowed traffic at stores in light of wintry weather, Crowe argued that “serious buyers” showed up.
“While the weather may have impacted traffic to the dealerships a little bit, it did not stop the serious buyers,” he continued.
“Throughout the month, the dealers maintain a good selection of Acura and Honda vehicles in inventory for consumers to choose from,” Crowe added. “Big inventory equates to big sales.”
Moving along, Lexus also enjoyed its strongest January on record for CPO sales, as it moved 5,520 certified units. This marked a 13.7-percent year-over-year uptick.
Likewise, Mazda posted its best January CPO sales total. The 1,407 certified units sold compares to 452 CPO vehicles sold in January 2010.
In addition to being the most robust January for Mazda CPO, it was also the second-strongest CPO month the automaker has ever seen. It fell less than 150 units short of the record set just one month earlier, when certified sales hit 1,551 units.
Volkswagen also achieved its strongest January ever for CPO sales. It moved 4,397 certified units, which is up 58.1 percent year-over-year.
Hyundai joined the group of brands enjoying best-ever Januaries. Its 2,293 CPO sales were a 115-percent year-over-year improvement.
On the domestic front, General Motors certified brands combined to sell 21,815 units during January, essentially static (up 0.6 percent) from the year-ago period). GM Certified Used Vehicles sold 20,122 units, up 5.5 percent year-over-year. A spokesperson for GM explained that the year-ago figure does not include Saturn, as the brand had not yet been moved into GM Certified Used Vehicles. The January 2011 period, however, does include Saturn.
“We’ve started 2011 off on the right foot, with another positive sales month,” said Larry Pryg, manager, GM Certified Used Vehicles. “We’re building on our strong close to 2010, and hope to continue our gains with our ‘No Worries Sales Event,’ offering customers APR financing as low as 1.9 percent.”
Over at Ford, its CPO sales reached 8,491 units in the first month of 2011, compared with 9,805 in the same period of 2010. Breaking it down by brand, there were 1,252 certified Lincoln/Mercury vehicles sold, which marked a 10.8-percent year-over-year drop. Ford division’s CPO sales fell 13.8 percent year-over-year, coming in at 7,239 vehicles.
Next up, Chrysler sold 7,924 certified units during January, a 16.3-percent hike. The Jeep brand climbed 29.8 percent as it moved 2,854 CPO units, while the Dodge brand jumped 7.6 percent and sold 2,986 certified vehicles.
Moving on, Toyota achieved a 21.9-percent uptick in CPO sales, moving 23,929 units.
Nissan’s Infiniti and Nissan brands combined to sell 6,670 certified vehicles, compared with 6,226 CPO units in January 2010.
The Nissan division sold 5,848 units (up 6.8 percent), while there were 822 Infiniti CPO vehicles sold (up 9.5 percent).
Subaru reached certified sales of 1,952 units, a 47.3-percent uptick.
At Kia, its CPO sales came in a 627 units, a 40.6-percent increase from January 2010. There was also a special CPO financing program via Kia Motors Finance that was rolled out during the month, said David Carp, director of fleet and remarketing for Kia Motors America.
He also noted that the financing offer is good until the end of February, but “we will look to extend the program based on the success.” The program offers APR rates as low as 2.9 percent.
Continuing along, BMW moved 7,112 certified vehicles in January, which compares with 7,443 CPO sales in January 2010.
Audi’s CPO sales totaled 2,232 units for the month, a 32.1-percent gain compared with 1,690 certified rides sold in January 2010.
Mercedes-Benz moved 6,443 certified units in January, which was a 3.4-percent improvement from a year ago.  
At Volvo, its January CPO sales reached 888 units, compared with 1,449 vehicles a year ago.
Porsche moved 657 certified rides, up 32.7 percent year-over-year.
Mini’s CPO sales hit 143 units, relatively flat from 146 vehicles a year ago. Certified sales at Saab came in at 129 units, compared with 211 vehicles during January 2010.
Jaguar’s certified sales reached 471 units during the month, up from 311 units in January 2010, while Land Rover achieved CPO sales of 198 vehicles, down from 248 units in the year-ago period.
Mitsubishi sold 36 CPO vehicles in January, compared with 40 a year ago. It was estimated that Bentley moved 30 certified vehicles during the month, same as last January.
Maserati moved 21 certified units in January, compared to 12 in the same period of last year.