Subaru April 2012 Sales up 6.3%

[xcel]

Best April sales in the company’s history.

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - May 1, 2012

2012 Subaru Impreza – $17,495 to start and a 27/36 mpgUS city/highway rating make for an impressive AWD choice.

When Subaru introduced its all-new fourth-generation 2012 Impreza four-door and five-door compacts at the 2011 New York International Auto Show (NYIAS), something was different. The familiar ungainly looking AWD hatches were left behind and in their place was an all-new and modern small sports wagon/crossover. It arrived with an all-new 2.0L powertrain that provided an incredible 36-percent improvement in combined fuel economy over the outgoing model without hybridization or adding a diesel along with increased room, greater agility and a higher level of refinement.

While I am not into AWD because it is unnecessary fuel consumer for most, for those that do need it, the Impreza is very competitively priced and reasonably efficient as well!

Subaru April Sales Results

Subaru this morning reported record sales for April 2012 of 26,310 vehicles, a six percent gain over April 2011. The company also reported year-to-date sales of 106,878, a 16 percent gain over prior year.

Year-to-date sedan sales for the brand have also increased with the all-new Impreza up 157 percent over prior year and Legacy sales up 12 percent.

Subaru Highlights

While the Outback was a bigger seller (8,548 vehicles sold in Aprilm ,down 9.7%), last month belonged to the slick looking AWD Impreza reaching sales of 6,791 vehicles in April, up 124.2% compared to April of 2011.

Thomas J. Doll, Exec VP and COO, Subaru of America:

"Subaru sales have exceeded 100,000 in four months – a first in our company's 44 year history."

Subaru April 2012 Highlights and Overall Sales

Model	Apr-12	Apr-11	Apr-DSR % change	Apr-12 YTD	Apr-11 YTD	YTD-DSR % change
Impreza	6,791	3,029	+152.2%	27,891	10,816	+60.4%
Subaru Totals	26,310	24,762	+19.5%	106,878	92,219	+17.0%

The daily selling rate (DSR) is calculated with 24 selling days in April of 2012 and 27 selling days during April of 2011.
Year-to-date, the DSR is calculated with 101 days for 2012 and 102 days for 2011. All percentages reflect DSR.

Top 10 – April 2012 US Automobile Sales Leaders

Sales Rank	Make	Model	Apr-12	Apr-11	Apr-DSR % change	Apr-12 YTD	Apr-11 YTD	YTD-DSR % change
1	Ford	F-Series	47,453	45,435	+17.5%	191,280	172,062	+12.3%
2	Toyota	Camry	36,820	30,443	+36.1%	142,225	107,264	+33.9%
3	Honda	Accord	35,385	28,180	+41.3%	96,517	94,375	+3.3%
4	Chevrolet	Silverado	30,749	29,342	+17.9%	126,387	121,797	+4.8%
5	Toyota	Corolla	24,804	24,215	+15.2%	93,232	100,890	-6.7%
6	Honda	Civic	24,423	26,777	+2.6%	101,592	91,745	+11.8%
7	Honda	CR-V	23,627	21,683	+22.6%	98,214	79,116	+25.4%
8	Chevrolet	Malibu	21,906	24,701	-0.2%	80,456	73,446	+10.6%
9	Ford	Fusion	21,610	21,189	+14.7%	85,559	86,212	+0.2%
10	Hyundai	Sonata	20,521	21,738	+6.2%	75,716	73,616	+3.9%

The daily selling rate (DSR) is calculated with 24 selling days in April of 2012 and 27 selling days during April of 2011.
Year-to-date, the DSR is calculated with 101 days for 2012 and 102 days for 2011. All percentages reflect DSR.
Prius sales combined reached 25,168 but within the sales breakout, none were in the top 10.

Top 10 Sales Leaders - Items of note: Camry and a fast charging Accord are neck and neck. Corolla and Civic both jumped 3 places. CR-V and Fusion fell 3 places. Malibu with tons of cash on the hood climbs back into the top 10 and Sonata edges out RAM to take the final spot.

B-Segment Sales Rank

1. Nissan Versa - 8,335
2. Chevrolet Sonic - 6,387
3. Hyundai Accent - 6,160
4. Ford Fiesta - 5,135
5. Toyota Yaris - 4,274
6. Kia Rio - 4,006
7. Honda Fit - 3,202
8. Mazda 2 - 1,048

C-Segment Sales Rank

1. Toyota Corolla - 24,804
2. Honda Civic - 24,423
3. Ford Focus - 19,425
4. Chevrolet Cruze - 18,205
5. Hyundai Elantra - 16,836
6. VW Jetta - 15,658
7. Mazda3 - 8,508
8. Nissan Sentra - 7,410

D-Segment Sales Rank

1. Toyota Camry - 36,820
2. Honda Accord - 35,385
3. Chevrolet Malibu - 21,906
4. Ford Fusion - 21,610
5. Hyundai Sonata - 20,521
6. Nissan Altima - 16,239
7. Kia Optima - 11,021
8. Chrysler 200 - 13,343
9. VW Passat - 10,096

April segment ranking items of note: Versa still leads the B-Segment with Sonic and Accent closing. Yaris passed the Fit and Rio while Rio outsold the Fit.

In the C-Segment, the ancient Corolla took hold of the lead with the much maligned Civic grabbing second place. Focus fell from first to third yet still outsold the Cruze.

The Camry leads everyone in the car segment and we mean all segments with the Accord jumping way up to second place with Malibu, Fusion and Sonata battling for third, fourth and fifth.

Automobile Manufacturer's US Sales Rank - April 2012 vs. April 2011 Comparison and Total Sales

1. GM April Sales down 8.2% with 213,387 vehicles sold.
2. Ford April Sales down 5.0% with 180,350 vehicles sold.
3. Toyota April Sales up11.6% with 178,044 vehicles sold.
4. Chrysler April Sales up 20.4% with 141,165 vehicles sold.
5. Honda April Sales down 2.2% with 122,012 vehicles sold.
6. Nissan April Sales down 0.3% with 71,329 vehicles sold.
7. Hyundai April Sales up 0.8% with 62,264 vehicles sold.
8. Kia April Sales up 1.0% with 47,550 vehicles sold.
9. VW April Sales up 31.5% with 37,525 vehicles sold.
10. BMW April Sales up 6.1% with 26,793 vehicles sold.
11. Subaru April Sales up 6.3% with 26,310 vehicles sold.
12. Mercedes-Benz April Sales up with 22,336 vehicles sold.
13. Mazda April Sales up 4.2% with 21,506 vehicles sold.
14. Audi April Sales up 15.0% with 11,521 vehicles sold.

March manufacturer sales rank items of note: Toyota just misses topping Ford, Nissan falls well behind Honda and Hyundai/Kia combined, Mercedes-Benz tops Mazda and BMW outsells Subaru.

SAAR is running at approximately 14.5 Million units.

[atlaw4u]

& Consumer Reports recently named Subara a best pick.

[RichXKU]

Originally Posted by atlaw4u

& Consumer Reports recently named Subara a best pick.

Is a Subara a female Subaru?

[WriConsult]

The new Impreza is a HUGE improvement in mpg over the past one, which embarrassingly only barely did better than its larger Forester and Legacy/Outback cousins. Besides the mpg and space improvements, the Impreza abandons the horribly unreliable open-deck 2.5L engine that has been the base engine across most of Subaru's lineup for a decade.

I had fantastic experiences with my two 2.2L '90s Subarus. I was impressed that they were screwed together even tighter, and cost me less to maintain, than the Hondas I'd had before. But I walked away because of the low mpg and the 2.5L engines in the newer models.

Now that the Impreza has been revolutionized, let's hope for big improvements in the larger Subies as their turn comes around for redesign over the next couple of years.

Not that I'll be buying one. Even as an outdoorsy type in the rugged Northwest I do not need AWD. Especially since the new traction control systems are sooo much better at making use of the available grip in 2wd cars. AWD still carries an mpg penalty, and there are some maintenance penalties (some things like a new clutch always cost 2x as much due to the need to yank the whole driveline, and if something goes wrong with even a fairly new tire -- which DOES happen to me periodically -- you need to replace all 4). I keep hoping that Subaru will reawaken to its pre-1997 roots and consider offering FWD again, but I don't really expect them to.