Volkswagen AG, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Porsche SE posted increases in U.S. car sales in September as new luxury models attracted buyers.
Volkswagen’s U.S. deliveries rose 1.5 percent from a year earlier to 17,358 cars and sport-utility vehicles as a coupe- style Passat CC model and a sports-car version of the Jetta went on sale and demand for the Routan minivan doubled, the Wolfsburg, Germany-based carmaker said. Sales by BMW, the world’s largest luxury automaker, increased 3.6 percent to 19,175 vehicles.
“For now, we’ll take this first small bit of good news but the premium segment is not out of the woods yet,” Jim O’Donnell, head of Munich-based BMW’s North American division, said in a statement yesterday.
The U.S. car market contracted by 23 percent in September as the expiration of the government’s “cash for clunkers” program reduced demand at mass-market automakers like General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. Toyota’s Lexus luxury brand delivered 12 percent more vehicles after the introduction of a hybrid-powered sedan, the HS, and a new version of the RX SUV.
Volkswagen rose as much as 3.36 euros, or 3.1 percent, to 112.67 euros and was up 2.4 percent as of 1:15 p.m. in Frankfurt trading. Daimler AG gained 0.3 percent to 33.50 euros. BMW fell 1 percent to 32.10 euros.
Cars vs SUVs
BMW’s namesake-brand sales in the U.S. rose 2.1 percent, as an 18 percent gain in car deliveries more than offset a 37 percent drop for SUVs. The Mini small-car division posted a 9.7 percent increase in U.S. sales. Models introduced in the U.S. this year include new versions of the BMW 7-Series sedan and Z4 roadster as well as a convertible Mini.
Porsche’s U.S. sales rose 8.4 percent to 1,581 vehicles as the Boxster and Cayman sports cars, which were updated in February, won more customers, the Stuttgart, Germany-based manufacturer said.
Daimler and Volkswagen’s Audi brand were the two German carmakers to report lower U.S. sales in September. Deliveries by Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz Cars division, which ranks second to BMW in global luxury-model sales, dropped 13 percent to 17,799 vehicles, led by a 54 percent plunge for the two-seat Smart brand, Stuttgart-based Daimler said. Audi’s sales fell 4.9 percent to 7,209 vehicles.
source: bloomberg
