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Asian Automakers Topple Detroit in U.S. Market

By Alan Ohnsman

(Bloomberg) — Toyota Motor Corp.'s (TM) U.S. sales surged 32 percent in December and Hyundai Motor Co.'s soared 41 percent to push Asian automakers ahead of U.S. competitors in annual market share for the first time.

Japanese and South Korean companies raised sales last month 26 percent from a year earlier. Honda Motor Co. () yesterday posted a 24 percent increase and Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY:US) reported a gain of 18 percent. Asian automakers held 47.4 percent of the market, compared with 44.9 percent for General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. (F), and Chrysler Group LLC, according to Autodata Corp.

The U.S. recession and bankruptcies at the predecessors of Detroit-based GM and Chrysler ravaged 2009 sales, cutting the full-year total to the lowest since 1982. Hyundai, its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. and other Asia-based brands found ways to exploit those developments, said market forecaster Jesse Toprak.

"Hyundai offers a lot of car for the money, and value triggered purchases in 2009," said Toprak, head of industry analysis for TrueCar Inc., a data service in Santa Monica, California. "They also increased incentive spending during the year and were more aggressive in fleet and rental sales."

Hyundai, South Korea's largest automaker, posted an annual increase of 8.3 percent, as the industry total slid 21 percent to 10.4 million, according to Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-based Autodata. Hyundai, based in Seoul, ranks seventh in the U.S. by sales volume.

Hyundai rose 0.5 percent, or 500 won, to 110,500 at 11:23 a.m. in Seoul trading.

U.S. Industrywide sales rose 15 percent to 1.03 million in December. China will release 2009 annual sales figures Dec. 8. The world's most populous nation is set to overtake the U.S. as the world's biggest auto market, according to analysts such as Koji Endo, managing director of Advanced Research Japan in Tokyo.

Toyota's 'Momentum'

Sales of Toyota, Lexus and Scion models rose to 187,860 vehicles in December from 141,949 a year earlier, led by Corolla small cars, Camry sedans and Prius hybrids, the company said.

Toyota probably led the market in annual retail sales for the first time, selling more than 1.6 million vehicles, said Don Esmond, the Toyota City, Japan-based automaker's U.S. senior vice president. That excludes deliveries to fleet buyers such as rental-car companies.

"Toyota is feeling great momentum heading into 2010," Esmond said on a conference call yesterday. The company expects 2010 industry sales to rise to at least 11.5 million, he said.

Top Luxury Brand

Lexus remained the top luxury brand in the U.S. by volume for a 10th consecutive year and Camry was again the top-selling passenger car.

The company, second in U.S. sales behind GM, sold 1.77 million vehicles last year, a 20 percent drop. Toyota's market share was 18.2 percent in December, up 2.3 points from a year earlier, and rose to 17 percent from 16.7 percent for 2009.

Toyota rose 2 percent, or 75 yen, to 3,880 yen as of the 11 a.m. break on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Honda, Japan's second-largest automaker, said it sold 107,143 vehicles last month, rising from 86,085. The company moved ahead of Chrysler in annual U.S. sales for the first time, taking the No. 4 ranking.

"Chrysler simply was building a bunch of vehicles Americans didn't want and Honda built products that people did want," said Ed Kim, an analyst at AutoPacific Inc. in Tustin, California.

Accords, Civics

Honda's December gains came from increases for Accord sedans, Civic small cars and CR-V and Pilot sport-utility vehicles, said Chris Martin, a company spokesman.

The Tokyo-based company's market share rose 0.8 percentage point to 10.4 percent in December, according to Autodata. For the year, the increase was 0.2 percentage point to 11 percent. Honda's annual sales dropped 19 percent to 1.15 million.

Nissan, Japan's third-largest automaker, sold 73,404 vehicles, rising from 62,102 a year earlier. For 2009, the Yokohama, Japan-based company sold 770,103 Nissan and Infiniti models, a 19 percent decline.

Altima and Maxima sedans, Versa small cars, Frontier pickup trucks and Infiniti G sports cars had sales gains for the month, the company said.

Al Castignetti, Nissan's vice president of U.S. sales, wouldn't give a company forecast for industry sales growth this year beyond saying that his "personal view is we're not going to see a 10 percent or 15 percent increase."

"I'm fairly optimistic," Castignetti said. "The market will get better, credit will get better."

Honda fell 15 yen to 3,130 yen in morning trading in Tokyo and Nissan fell 4 yen, or 0.5 percent, to 799 yen.

Kia, Subaru

Kia, controlled by Hyundai Motor, raised sales by 21,048 vehicles from 14,644 a year ago, and had a 9.8 percent increase for the year to 300,063. Seoul-based Kia's market share rose 0.4 point last month, benefiting from the addition of the new Forte small car, the Soul wagon and the new Sorento SUV.

Subaru, the auto brand of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., had a 33 percent sales gain last month and a 15 percent increase for the year, the market's largest.

"Subaru had the best organic growth in the market, real word-of-mouth benefits, with consumers talking to consumers about how great they think the vehicles are," Toprak said.

The company, an affiliate of Toyota, sold 216,652 all-wheel drive sedans, wagons and SUVs last year.

Among other brands, Japan's Mazda Motor Corp. reported a 1.6 percent increase last month, and a 21 percent drop for the year. Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s sales fell 4.7 percent last month and Suzuki Motor Corp. had a 48 percent decline.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.net

Regions : Asia

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