AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The new car market across North America suffered the full force of recession in 2009, with some worrying trends revealed according to data compiled by automotive data and intelligence provider JATO Dynamics.

Behind the headlines of U.S. government intervention and the “Cash for Clunkers” program, lies a shift in consumer demand that has hit upper segment cars and domestic U.S. brands hardest, said JATO.

Overall, 3.3 million fewer new cars were bought in North America in 2009, than in 2008, with 12.6 million total sales.

Across the region, those brands weathering the storm best were lower-volume import nameplates, with Hyundai (+11.6 percent) and Kia (+11.3 percent) increasing sales volumes. Other winners were Subaru (+15 percent) and Audi, which achieved 5.4 percent growth in H2, albeit with smaller volumes.

By contrast, the three biggest brands, Ford, Toyota and Chevrolet, ended the year 13.8 percent, 18.2 percent and 25.8 percent down respectively.
 
David Di Girolamo, head of JATO Consult, said, “The recession of demand and simultaneous, sudden shift to smaller, more economical vehicles has been felt keenly across North America. This has created even more of an opportunity for those lower-volume, importing manufacturers that already offer such vehicles and puts even more pressure on the big, domestic automakers.”

United States

With 2009 sales down by 2.8 million (21.2 percent), the top five models in the United States new car league were held by import brands, Toyota, Honda and Nissan, with the year’s best-selling car the Toyota Camry.

Domestic U.S. brands still feature, but some have been hit hard by the recession – for example, the seventh-placed car, the Chevrolet Impala large sedan, whose sales dropped by 37.7 percent, vs. 2008.

Overall, U.S. car and truck sales were down 20.5 percent and 22 percent respectively, with small- and medium-size cars seeing smaller drops in demand, evidence of downsizing amongst those U.S. customers buying new cars.

Canada

 
The Canadian market (2009 total sales of 1.5 million) fared better, dropping only 10.8 percent, with truck sales actually rising 3.6 percent in the second half of the year.

This was perhaps helped by the fact Canadian customers seem to prefer smaller cars, with the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Mazda3 leading the sales list.

More significantly however, truck sales in Canada grew through the second half of the year, with the Ford F150 topping the list, with total sales of 67,538, (+20.2 percent).

Mexico
 

The Mexican market fell below 1 million sales this year, having suffered the greatest percentage fall of 28.8 percent.

Overall, both truck and car sales fell, with even market-specific models such as Nissan Tsuru, experiencing a downturn. Some car models did buck this trend, with Seat Ibiza doing the best business, up 28.3 percent, with total 2009 sales of 10,419.

Volkswagen’s South American entry-level model, the Gol, has been an immensely popular addition to the Mexican market in 2009, selling 23,776 and could prove a future market leader.

Truck sales fared less well, headed by the Nissan Pickup. In further evidence of the sudden unpopularity of large SUVs, sales of the Ford Expedition more than halved, down 52.2 percent.

For more information about the study, or about JATO, visit www.jato.com, or email [email protected].