Volkswagen reported sales up 34.4% to 36,663 vehicles for its best September sales since 1972.
And year-to-date sales are up 37.2% from the period a year ago.
"Volkswagen
had another 'best in 40 years' month with strong results for the Golf,
Beetle, Tiguan and Touareg," said Edmunds.com senior analyst Michelle
Krebs, but she added a caution. "The Passat had a good month, but it
dipped below the 10,000-unit mark where it had been for the past few
months, so that's worth monitoring to see if it's an aberration or the
start of a trend."
Still it was the best September ever for Passat
at 9,500, as it was for the Tiguan small SUV at 2,202. And during the
month, Passat passed the total sales in its previous best full year.
Also
good news for VW was that its redesigned Beetle had its best September
since 2003, when the old model was a still relatively strong seller,
though it has yet to equal the old New Beetle's golden era.
The Jetta compact continued to be the volume model at 12,584 sales. And a new hybrid Jetta goes on sale this month.
VW's high-mileage and fun TDI diesel models account for 23.9% of the company's September sales.
"Tracking
over a 37% increase year-to-date is a strong proof point that our
products are on more shopping lists and gaining acceptance in the
market," said Jonathan Browning, CEO, Volkswagen Group of America, in a
statement. "As we enter the fourth quarter of the year, we expect to
continue our pattern of outperforming the industry."
That
apparently will include being willing to spend big on sales incentives.
Autodata shows that in the 12 months through August VW sales incentives
rose an average 30.7% per vehicle to $2,114 from $1,617 a year ago, a
period in which most automakers have cut incentives.
The jump
shows the VW brand is willing to jump in and buy sales like other
automakers. From VW's view the spending just has risen to about the
industry average.
AUDI, VW's premium brand, meanwhile
posted a sales gain of 26.5% in September and set a record for the month
of 12,302 vehicles. Sales are up 18.5% year-to-date.
Audi boasted
in its release that its big-ticket models (A8, A7, A6 and Q7) generated
35.7% of September sales, with the A6 up 83.7% and the Q7 SUV up 94.6%.
The entry A4 continued to be the volume model, with sales up 12.8%.
And its high-profit new performance S models -- currently getting a big ad push -- accounted for 10.4% of the month's sales.
"Our
newly expanded lineup of S-model performance cars is delivering strong
immediate results," said Mark Del Rosso, COO, in a statement.
MERCEDES-BENZ said September sales were a record for that month.
The
entry model C-class was the biggest seller, at 7,872 sales, a rise of
14.7%. The revised GLK small SUV also was a star, hitting 3,206 for a
jump of 65.8%.
Those two accounted for 47.8% of all M-B vehicle
sales in September and 40.6% through the first nine months. Thus, what
you might picture as a purveyor of big, road-eating sedans has, in
fact, become a little-car company. In September, the only other M-B
model that posted sales anywhere close to the two top-sellers was the
E-class mid-size sedan, at 4,826, down 5.8%.
M-B's tiny Smart car,
now distributed directly by the automaker instead of through an
independent but reported separately from M-B-brand vehicles, more than
doubled September sales, up 119.6% to 1,030.
But average
per-car incentives have risen faster than that, up 174.5% for the 12
months that ended in August, according to Autodata. September incentives
aren't available yet.
M-B, including Smart and the Sprinter van, both reported separately, hit 25,980 in the month.
BMW GROUP
said it sold 26,660 BMW and Mini vehicles in September, up 3.5%, and
more than Mercedes-Benz in the fight for top luxury brand in the U.S.
The first nine months of the year, BMW Group sold 234,928, up 7.1%,
while M-B including all brands was at 214,331, up 16.7%.
BMW's X3 compact SUV, assembled in South Caroline, vaulted 63.7%, to 3,034, and the smaller X1, on sale since August, hit 1,570.
Mini sales rose 22.5%, to 4,899.
Even
though the SUVs seem to highlight each month's sales, BMW remains
solidly a "car" company. The category that BMW straightforwardly calls
"light trucks," was 34.4% of BMW-brand sales.
JAGUAR LAND ROVER sales rose 20% overall in the month, but the gains were all Land Rover, up 33%, while Jaguar sales were off 10%.
Land
Rover sales of 3,636 were led by the Range Rover Sport at 1,514 and
Evoque at 599. Jag sales, still up 3% for the year, fell to 1,004 in
September, in advance of the arrival of what it hopes are potential
sales drivers for 2013 -- all-wheel drive and V-6 options for both the
XF and XJ sedans, as well as a turbo four-banger for the XF.
PORSCHE
reported September sales up 26% to 2,736. Year-to-date sales are up
10.4%. The volume leader was the Cayenne SUV, up 47.3% for the month,
and nearly 20% of Cayenne buyers opted for the diesel version. Sales of
the Panamera sedan were up 17.9%.
USA Today