Next-generation Cruze sales off to strong start

June 2, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

LORDSTOWN

Sales on the Lordstown-produced, next-generation Chevrolet Cruze are off to a strong start, analysts say.

In May, the all-new Cruze accounted for 85 percent of the Cruze retail sales compared with 53 percent in April, General Motors said Wednesday.

The Cruze’s May retail share was up 2 percentage points to about 9 percent, and its average price was up substantially from last year, according to J.D. Power PIN data GM released Wednesday.

Despite low inventory after a two-week shutdown after the Japan earthquakes, Cruze sales in May hit 16,671. Last May, just first-generation Cruze sales were 23,752.

The shutdown led to the loss of production of about 1,200 Cruzes each production day, which “does set you back,” said Glenn Johnson, president of the United Auto Workers Local 1112, who represents about 3,000 assembly workers at the Lordstown plant.

“We are ramping up [production],” Johnson said. “We are getting everything back on track so that we can keep our members working.”

Local dealers tell Johnson they cannot wait to get more new Cruzes in stock.

“They are starting to see more and more show up,” he said. “We will continue to meet the demand.”

Robert Morales, president of the UAW Local 1714, who represents about 1,400 fabrication plant workers at the Lordstown plant, has also heard “bring us more” from dealers.

“It’s definitely a good feeling to be wanted,” Morales said.

The next-generation Cruze started to ship out to dealers March 21. The compact car comes with a sleek style, enhanced safety features that aren’t typical for the compact segment and more technology.

“It’s in a tough segment,” said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for AutoTrader. “We will see how it fares.”

The Cruze is entering a market that has shifted from car-driven to utility-driven.

“We are seeing this very profound change from consumers shifting from traditional cars to sport utilities and trucks,” Krebs said. “It’s something we haven’t seen in a long time.”

The only car in AutoTrader’s top 20 most-shopped vehicles is the Honda Accord.

Honda’s other sales leader, the Civic, is top competition for the Cruze. Last month, the Civic had 35,396 sales for an 11 percent increase over May 2015.

“I think there will always be a need for passenger cars,” said Eric Lyman, vice president of industry insights for TrueCar. “Even though that segment is down, it’s still one of the top segments in the industry.”

Overall, automakers reported fewer sales from last May in part because of the loss of two selling days.

TrueCar forecasted 1.56 million sales and 1.53 million were actually reported.

GM sold 240,450 vehicles compared with 293,097 last May for an 18 percent decrease. GM sold 190,613 vehicles in May to individual or “retail” customers, down 13 percent from last May.

GM continues to reduce daily rental deliveries. Year-to-date, GM’s rental deliveries are down more than 82,000 vehicles from a year ago.

“Current dealer inventories for launch products are about half of what we’d like for launch products, but availability is improving, which sets us up well for the second half of the year,” said Kurt McNeil, GM vice president of sales operations, in a statement.

American Honda Motor Co. Inc. reported May sales of 147,108 units, a year-over-year decline of 4.8 percent.

Ford Motor Co.’s total U.S. sales of 235,997 vehicles declined 6 percent versus a year ago.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles U.S. LLC reported U.S. sales of 204,452 units, a 1 percent increase compared with sales in May 2015.