I’ve been seeing a lot of commercials for the Chevy Volt, and this advertising blitz might be paying off. The Chevy Volt outsold the Nissan Leaf for the first time in October. In October GM sold 1,108 units of the Volt, which is a significant increase over the 723 units sold in September.

The Volt is still running behind GM’s sales targets, and it seems like the company was banking on all the PR buzz around the vehicle to drive sales. Perhaps a marketing push was also needed. The commercials are pretty good. They stress the gas savings of an electric car with some humorous situations at gas stations.

As more and more automakers go electric and introduce plug-in hybrids, it will be interesting to see if this segment really takes off. Right now the sales numbers are miniscule but that could change quickly.

Auto sales are set to jump in the coming years but will high gas prices put a strain on the auto recovery?

From CNN.com:

FORTUNE — It has been a dismal three-plus years for U.S. auto sales.

After a halcyon stretch early in the 2000s, when annual sales of cars and light trucks topped 16 million for nine straight years — and even poked above 17 million at times — they have been sharply depressed.

Sales tumbled to 13.2 million in 2008 and then fell all the way to 10.4 million in 2009, helping to send General Motors and Chrysler into bankruptcy.

Since then, sales have improved slightly, recovering to 11.6 million last year — but still well below long-term trends.

Now, in a surprisingly upbeat forecast, economist George Magliano of HIS Global Insight sees better times ahead — much better, in fact.

Read the full article.

China’s car sales are turbo charged and poised to keep growing in the short term and possibly long term as well. March 2010 sales in the Chinese market soared by 63% and officials are forecasting over 17 million units this year. GM reported an increase of 68%, Ford was up a whopping 84% and the lot goes on. How high can they go is anyone’s guess but this year will cement China as the world’s largest auto market for the foreseeable future.

From the Detroit News:

Shanghai — China’s passenger car sales jumped 63 percent in March from a year earlier as manufacturers scrambled to meet strong demand driven by tax cuts and government subsidies, a state-affiliated industry group reported today.

Passenger car sales rose to 1.26 million vehicles in March, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Weak sales in the United States and a surge in car purchases by newly affluent Chinese buyers helped to make this the world’s largest auto market last year, when total vehicle sales jumped 45 percent over 2008 to 13.6 million units.

Read the full article here.

U.S. auto sales gained more momentum in March with Ford sales up 39%; Chrysler down 8%; GM up 21%. The big winner appears to be Toyota with an increase of almost 41%. Some analysts expected sales to come in even stronger with the heavy incentive wars kicking in last month but hey, it beats 2009 by miles….

From the Detroit News.com:

Toyota posted a nearly 41 percent increase in sales last month after boosting incentives amid recall problems plaguing the world’s largest automaker.

Ford Motor Co. sales rose 39.8 percent last month while Chrysler Group LLC posted an 8 percent decline.

Meanwhile, General Motors Co. said today its vehicle sales jumped 21 percent sales in the U.S. last month, led by a 76 percent increase for its Buick brand and popular new launch vehicles.
010 U.S.
Ford, Lincoln and Mercury dealers sold 178,546 vehicles last month and the Dearborn automaker said its retail market share rose for the 17th time in the last 18 months.

Read the full article here.

Looks like Toyota will be bouncing back in March with a projected 30 percent increase in sales! Apparently the hefty incentives are blunting any further erosion in sales from the acceleration issues so you have to give Toyota sales/marketing some credit here. More people are now talking about their rebates than the gas pedal debacle and that’s exactly what Mr. Toyoda probably ordered.

From AutoNews.com:

NEW YORK — Perhaps seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, Toyota expects March sales to be up 30 to 35 percent over year-ago figures, outpacing industry gains, its top U.S. executive said today.

Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., said the “biggest surprise has been the RAV4,” which saw sales surge to an expected 22,000 units in March, far above the crossover’s typical sales. Lentz theorized that perhaps RAV4 incentives were a bit high.

While both car and truck sales have risen, “it’s really light trucks that are driving the business,” Lentz told journalists gathered outside the NADA/IHS Global Insight Forum here.

Read the full article here.