Cold Weather Freezes January Car Sales

After a strong start to January 2014 sales, final numbers came in below expectations, with just over one million new vehicles moving out of showrooms and into American driveways according to J.D. Power's forecasting partner LMC Automotive. This represents a 3.1% decrease compared with January 2013, and a 22.5% decline compared with a robust market in December 2013.

Highlights: January 2013 Car Sales

Perhaps recent winter storms have convinced car buyers of the merits of all-wheel drive, with Jeep and Subaru benefitting in terms of sales. Among non-luxury marques, these two brands are among those seeing the biggest year-over-year gains in January 2014, at 38% and 19%, respectively. Luxury car buyers were out in force, too, with Cadillac, Porsche, and Volvo the only premium brands seeing a decline in sales for the month.

Following are additional auto sales highlights for January 2014, presented in alphabetical order by manufacturer group:

• American Honda--Down 2%, though Acura picks up steam with a 14% gain

• BMW Group--Up 3%, with gains muted by a 31% drop in Mini sales as the automaker prepares to launch the redesigned Cooper Hardtop

• Daimler AG--Modest 2% gain, though it is notable that Smart sales improve by 8% in January

• Fiat Chrysler Automobiles--Sales rise 8%, with all divisions increasing sales except for Dodge, which declines 19%

• Ford Motor Company--Declines 8% overall, despite a strong 43% gain in Lincoln sales

• General Motors--Down 12% overall, with all divisions except for Buick suffering double-digit declines

• Hyundai Group--Flat at 1%, with neither Hyundai nor Kia declining

• Jaguar Land Rover--Increases 15%, with Land Rover producing as many Range Rovers and Range Rover Sports as the factory can muster

• Maserati--Up 230%, thanks to the new Ghibli model

• Mazda--Down 12%, despite fresh products in popular vehicle segments

• Mitsubishi--Up 5% with new Outlander and Mirage models in showrooms

• Nissan--Up 12%, thanks in part to a 26% improvement in Infiniti sales

• Subaru--Up 19%, with every model except for the BRZ sport coupe equipped with standard all-wheel drive

• Toyota--Down 12%, each division losing ground except for Lexus, which improves by 9%

• Volkswagen--Down 13%, with both Porsche and Volkswagen seeing declines while Bentley and Lamborghini increase sales. Audi was flat for the month

• Volvo--Down 22% as C30 and C70 are phased out, and in advance of redesigned XC90 model's arrival