Each month of a sales year for cars is as important as the last, while some months are bigger in sales numbers than others they all matter. Car sales numbers do not take into account individual parts like the indash navigation screen or car radio, they are all about whole cars. Car companies use the numbers in the slower seasons to get a hold of the demand for the larger seasons and what customers want as well.
For the month of October there are some very surprising shifts in the total sales numbers. Volkswagen and Mini both saw close to 40% more sales than they did a year earlier, while Honda stayed just about level. October is a slow down in the automotive world and it’s a time for the dealers to start up their winter ad campaigns. And start to push SUV and truck sales with the promise of safety with 4wd, even though many SUV’s are sold as RWD set-ups.
The sales numbers for the last 3 months are not really the best way to judge the actual demand for many car makes due to the lack of supply for many Japanese models and parts. The Earthquake and resulting tsunami shut down many plants in Japan where car models are built. None the less the sales numbers that are released this month are measured by percentage change vs the last year. This means that the car companies that are down may still have sold 4 times as many cars as the top companies.
