General Motors ended the third quarter on a higher note while Honda stumbled again.
Auto sales in the difficult second quarter suffered from supply chain disruptions and severely compromised inventory, and results were mixed in the third quarter, while inventory held steady in many cases, other factors such as higher costs and interest rates prevented meaningful growth from the previous quarter. On the positive side, sales of light vehicles increased in August for the first time in more than a year.
Car sales reported in the third quarter of the year so far showed that automakers fell 0.4% compared to the third quarter of 2021 only. However, the third quarter of 2022 was marginally behind the second quarter, based on the data currently available.
September was a strong month for many automakers, although many of them only reported quarterly car sales numbers, not monthly. But based on annual sales figures for the third quarter of 2022, these are the brands that saw the biggest gains and losses in car sales, and we hope that the last quarter of this year will be strong.
1- Cadillac achieved the highest sales of cars with an increase (+49.5%)
Overall, GM had an impressive third quarter with 551,976 light vehicles sold, a 24.6% increase from the third quarter of 2021, and led the industry over the period. GM was bolstered by much higher inventory — three times the stock recorded at the end of the third quarter of 2021 — and Cadillac was the main beneficiary, with a 49.5% jump in sales in the third quarter to 33,672 vehicles.
The Escalade was the car sales leader for the brand, and led the way for the Cadillac brand in the fourth quarter with 9,953 units – a roughly 31% share of the large luxury SUV segment – but the brand’s biggest driver was the Cadillac XT4 crossover with 5 ,838 cars, an increase of 929.6%. The increase comes even though the XT4 received only minor changes for 2022 and 2023. While the all-electric Lyriq found 36 homes in the third quarter of the year.
General Motors’ aspirations for the coming period
GM reported that stable production, improved dealer inventory and stronger semiconductor supplies contributed to the success of brands including Cadillac in the third quarter. “The design, technology and manufacturing investments we’ve made are helping us meet strong demand for our products,” said GM’s Steve Carlisle. For Cadillac and the other brands under the GM umbrella, a strong end to the year is within reach.
2- Chrysler increased sales by (+39.4%)
Although overall light vehicle sales for Stellantis declined, Chrysler itself did well with a healthy 39.4% increase compared to the third quarter of 2021. Chrysler has a small lineup of small vehicles, which includes the Pacifica minivan and 300 sedans.
The Pacifica sold 17,439 units, a jump of 46%, and the 300 sold 4,175 units, up 17%. While the 300 received a final push when limited reservations for the 300C sold out within just 12 hours before the old car stopped.
Chrysler’s outlook for the future
Once the 300 sedan runs out, Chrysler will only have the Pacifica. Yes, minivans sell well, but the once thriving brand seems like an afterthought today. New models like the Airflow Concept have been out of car sales for some time, but at least Chrysler could benefit from Stellants’ STLA platforms when it goes electrified. Chrysler’s auto sales will depend on Pacifica alone to elevate the brand.
3- Chevrolet sales increased by (+30%)
Another place in the list of winners for the largest car sales in the third quarter is General Motors through Chevrolet. And it was able to sell 369,269 cars in the light car category in the third quarter of 2022, an increase of 30% over the third quarter of 2021. It is not surprising that the best-selling Chevrolet car during this period is the Silverado 1500, which is on the top of car sales In Chevy, about 63,629 units,
But sales volume closed down 27.9%. Compared to before, Malibu sales saw a whopping 7941% increase to 21,630 units, compared to 269 in the same period last year. With the battery issues gone, the Bolt EV/EUV returned with sales of 14,709 vehicles, an increase of 225.8% – and record quarterly sales for an electric vehicle indicate. Traverse sold 25,388 units, beautiful Colorado sold 24,405 and Equinox achieved about 46,646 with a strong rise.
Chevrolet’s aspirations for the coming period
Other than Toyota and Ford, no individual brand sold more cars than Chevrolet in the third quarter. As with Cadillac, stock stability helped GM increase sales, and the situation looks promising as the fourth quarter approaches. For car sales in the last quarter.
Other global car sales
And we can’t forget the rest of the automakers, which also posted a positive recovery in Q3 2022 sales:
- GMC achieved an increase in car sales by +23.9%, and sold 120,512 cars
- Dodge has increased its sales by +21.8%; 59,756 cars were sold
- Audi achieved a +20.1% increase in sales; And sold 49,267 cars
- Lincoln achieved a +17.5% increase.
- Ford’s sales increased by +16%.
Tesla – suspended in space
Tesla’s sales do not appear in this list, as it has not released third-quarter sales data at the time of writing. Tesla was one of the top performers in the US in the second quarter, but so far it has only released global deliveries for the third quarter. This number stands at 343,830 cars. Although that’s more than 100,000 vehicles compared to the third quarter of 2021, Tesla still fell short of analyst expectations of 364,660 vehicles, CNBC reported, based on estimates compiled by FactSet Street Account.
“Tesla had delivery challenges in the third quarter, and it’s clear that it posted a weak number that will worry the street,” said Daniel Ives, managing director and chief equity analyst at Wedbush Securities. But “Given the overall environment, the delivery number is disappointing from Tesla, and perhaps takes us to a bullish story in deliveries in the last quarter.”
Ford electric car sales soar
Ford’s total sales of light vehicles were 441,397 vehicles in the third quarter of 2022, an increase of 16% over the previous year. In September, the brand’s electric vehicle sales tripled, and its share in the electric vehicle segment increased by 3.1 percentage points compared to September last year. Last month, Ford sold 46,338 trucks (-26.6%), the F-150 Lightning sold 3,154, and the Mavericks increased (+523.3%), with 10,892 vehicles.
Bronco sales increased by (+220.7%), by 2,324, the Mustang Match S by (+47.3%) and the 3454 Mustang (+26.6%). “Ford continued to see high-demand vehicles transform at record rates in September, with the development of truck driving and electric trucks and the expansion of our overall truck leadership,” said Andrew Frick, vice president of sales, distribution and trucks, Ford Blue.
Fiat losses from car sales decreased (-48.1%)
It’s been another poor quarter for Fiat, but that’s not surprising as the 500X crossover is still selling off. About 179 cars found their way to customers’ homes only, a 43% drop compared to last year. Fiat accounted for the remainder of its sales of 208 for the third quarter of 2022 with the help of several discontinued models, including the 500 (only seven units sold), 500 (five sold) and Spyder (17).
Fiat’s aspirations in the coming period
While Fiat has some insanely loyal customers around the world, that means very little, with a lineup uncompetitive in markets such as the US. The brand needs a more modern crossover, to say the least, to have any hope of retaining sales in this region.
Losses: Acura and Honda’s auto sales down (35.8% combined)
Honda and Acura have been affected by supply issues more than most other brands. In the last quarter, Honda Motor Co.’s sales fell more than 50% year over year. In the third quarter of 2022, a drop of at least 35.8% showed the automaker was heading in the right direction, and September sales were the best since May due to improved supply issues.
September was Honda’s best-seller — the brand reported individual model sales for the month, not the third quarter as a whole — and the CR-V had sales of 22,205 vehicles, a good showing since the all-new CR-V has now come to market. The Ridgeline model achieved its best performance in September with (4,114) cars, and in the third quarter it sold (12,515). The new Civic managed only 9,381 sales in September, down 40% compared to September 2021.
For Acura, it wouldn’t be happy to see TLX sales drop to 571 units in September 2022, down more than 70% compared to last year. The new Integra found 1,540 homes in September, and the MDX scored 4,086 units, up 94.5% from September 2021.
Acura and Honda aspirations in the coming period
There are challenges such as transportation problems and a lack of spare parts, said Mamadou Diallo, vice president of car sales for Honda America. Hopefully, Honda will recover in the last quarter after a difficult year.
Volvo losses from car sales down (-31.6%)
Volvo moved 21,631 cars in the third quarter of 2022, down 31.6% in sales. In the month of September alone, the Swedish company sold 6,627 cars in America, down 29.1%. With 154 units of electric models in September, and about 1,015 plug-in hybrid cars.
Volvo hasn’t released sales figures for some specific models, but its best-selling car globally was the XC60, which went up in September, followed by the XC40.
Volvo’s aspirations for the coming period
Volvo says that although demand for its cars remains strong, especially for plug-in hybrid variants, manufacturing production continues to be hampered by plant shutdowns as well as supply chain disruptions affecting the global market. In South Carolina, Volvo was forced last month to halt production due to Hurricane Ian. Although it won’t affect sales charts just yet, the upcoming debut of the EX90 in November is significant for Volvo, especially as its electrified models are selling out in droves.
Mitsubishi car sales losses down (-29.5%)
Mitsubishi car sales recorded 16,782 cars sold in the third quarter of 2022, and it had sales of 23,799 Citros in the third quarter of 2021, which represents a decrease of 29.5%. The brand echoed the sentiments of many others by saying that the display limitations of its most popular models continued to make things difficult.
Hurricane Ian also caused port closures, affecting sales forecasts. But there were some bright spots. Outlander sold 7,178 units, and CYTD sales rose 43.3%. While sales of the Eclipse crossover increased from 2,583 cars in the third quarter of 2021 to 2,649 cars in the third quarter of 2022, and achieved its best sales ever in September.
Mitsubishi’s aspirations in the coming period
The new Hybrid Outlander is one of Mitsubishi’s most promising models but will only enter showrooms in November 2022. Mitsubishi expects a “significant” increase in sales for this model, and along with supply constraints that we hope will continue to ease, the brand can expect to end the year with a note lighter.
Buick losses from car sales down (-27.4%)
Within GM’s stable of companies, Buick was the only brand to see a decline in sales in the third quarter of 2022, with very significant declines of 27.4%. For the year, Buick’s sales are even bleaker, dropping 49.3%. In the last quarter, two of Buick’s best-selling models saw significant declines from last year.
Encore GX 9825 recorded a sales decrease of (-40.5%), Envision sales decreased and 7,307 cars were sold with a negative (-34.5%). Encore stopped at 3,487, down (-13.1%), Enclave sold 7,904, down +3.7%, and Buick was the only one to sell more units in Q3 2022 than the previous year).
Buick’s outlook for the future
GM’s improved inventory and more stable production in the third quarter of 2022 was evident, and Buick was one of the automakers with the highest stocks in September, according to Cox Automotive. But it seems that Buick as a brand is still struggling to reach buyers. Although Buick makes some of the most beautiful cars it owns, the brand needs more inspiring models like the Wildcat Concept, not to mention at least one competitive electric vehicle.
Other key car sales results
Hyundai sold 184,431 vehicles in the third quarter of 2022, up 3% from last year. This was a record for retail sales in the third quarter, and records were also broken in the third quarter for the Elantra Hybrid, Ionic 5, Santa Cruz, Santa Fe Hybrid PHEV, and Tucson Hybrid PHEV. Santa Cruz sales reached 8,600 units in the third quarter, up 187%. The Tucson was the brand’s best-selling model in the third quarter with 41,554.
Vehicle sales at Kia and Hyundai were close in the third quarter, with 184,808 vehicles sold previously, an increase of 4.4%. Kia only released sales figures for some models for September, not overall vehicle sales, with the Sportage (12.412), Sorento (7350) and Seltos (4,022) all reporting healthy year-over-year increases that increased in September.
Toyota sold 458,493 vehicles in America during the third quarter, down 5.4%. As with the Koreans, a strong September boosted the Japanese giant’s results, as this was the first monthly increase in sales since July 2021, and after 13 consecutive months of losses. In September, Camry sales totaled 27,859 (+45.8% compared to September 2021), RAV4 sales were 32,317 (+50.8%), and Highlander sales were flat at 19743 (+3.4%).
BMW sold 78,031 vehicles in the third quarter of 2022, an increase of 3.2% over the third quarter of 2021. This total was helped by better availability of electric vehicles and good SUV sales, although passenger car sales specifically declined by 28.3 %. The brand sold 1727 iX, 21,077 X5 (+68.1%) and 18,453 X3 (+4.1%). The fourth series (9,377, +148.6%) had an impressive quarter but the third series (5,337, -60.7%) had a big drop.
At the time of writing, third-quarter 2022 sales numbers are not available for Polestar, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Rolls-Royce, Jaguar Land Rover, Lucid, McLaren and Maserati. We will update as these numbers become available.
Q3 Car Sales Summary: Mixed fortunes for most people
Although September was a great month for most people, third-quarter sales were generally lower compared to the second quarter, confirming the mixed fortunes quarter.
Although inventory and supply shortages dampened auto sales for many automakers in the third quarter, especially last September, analysts predicted that these improvements could be thwarted by higher prices and higher interest rates as well. The median retail transaction price for new vehicles in September was $45,622.
And according to JD Power, it nearly surpassed the previous highest level in any month. While consumers were paying about $700 on the sticker price in the summer, that number fell to the upper $200 range, an indication of a cooler market, according to a statement from Evan Dore, Edmunds principal.
Amid the recent market volatility, consumer demand remains remarkably high with Ford, General Motors, Hyundai and Kia all reporting better numbers for light vehicle sales than the same sales last year. Without any inventory or supply issues, these numbers could have been higher.
Automakers are hoping that September will be a sign that things will come in the fourth quarter, but unpredictable market conditions will keep brands cautiously optimistic about the final quarter of 2022. For more see Global Auto Sales 2021 here .
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