American new car sales plummet amid COVID-19 crisis

With many of parts of the world put into various states of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, car sales in March have fallen sharply as globally.

Hot on the heels of VFACTS, carmakers are releasing their sales figures for the USA, and they don’t make for good reading.

Every brand is in the red, with most of the biggest sellers down between 30 and 57 per cent.

Overall sales are down from 1.275 million in March 2019, to around just 740,000 in 2020.

Here is a brand-by-brand breakdown of sales in the USA:

• Ford: 124,562 (down 37.6 per cent)
• Toyota: 120,145 (down 35.3 per cent)
• Chevrolet: 110,418 (down 31.2 per cent)
• Honda: 70,116 (down 47.7 per cent)
• Nissan: 59,102 (down 57.0 per cent)
• Jeep: 46,525 (down 46.7 per cent)
• Kia: 45,413 (down 18.6 per cent)
• Hyundai: 35,118 (down 42.6 per cent)
• Ram: 35,782 (down 31.0 per cent)
• Subaru: 32,611 (down 47.1 per cent)
• GMC: 30,238 (down 32.2 per cent)
• Dodge: 22,582 (down 51.3 per cent)
• Volkswagen: 19,118 (down 48.5 per cent)
• Mazda: 15,664 (down 41.8 per cent)
• Lexus: 15,585 (down 46.7 per cent)
• BMW 15,141 (down 53.0 per cent)
• Audi: 10,537 (down 48.1 per cent)
• Mitsubishi: 9394 (down 52.1 per cent)
• Buick: 8627 (down 53.2 per cent)
• Cadillac: 7722 (down 39.6 per cent)
• Chrysler: 7493 (down 38.4 per cent)
• Acura: 7037 (down 51.2 per cent)
• Infiniti: 6510 (down 51.4 per cent)
• Lincoln: 6510 (down 26.6 per cent)
• Porsche: 3055 (down 36.1 per cent)
• Mini: 1333 (down 64.3 per cent)
• Genesis: 969 (down 33.2 per cent)
• Alfa Romeo: 943 (down 46.8 per cent)
• Fiat: 287 (down 66.1 per cent)

Jaguar Land Rover has yet to report figures.

With California and New York only entering lockdown part way through March, we can expect April’s figures to be even grimmer as more cities and states seek to stem the spread of COVID-19.