The California new vehicle market maintained its impressive winning streak during the summer of 2013. New light vehicle registrations in the state increased 13.8 percent in the Third Quarter of this year versus a year earlier, the 12th consecutive quarterly year-over-year improvement according to the California New Car Dealers Assn.
Total registrations for all of this year are expected to exceed 1.7 million units, an increase of more than 177,000 units from 2012 and up by over 670,000 from the recessionary low point in 2009. Auto Outlook is predicting that registrations in 2014 will exceed 1.8 million units, a 6 percent increase over this year. Other key trends in the state market:
Among the top 15 selling brands, Subaru, Dodge, Mazda, BMW, and Ford had the biggest percentage increases during the first nine monthsof this year. New registrations for each of the five brands increased by more than 18 percent
Domestic brand registrations increased 18.5 percent during the first nine months of this year and market share increased 1.3 points. Korean brands had a small decline and market share fell by one point.
Hybrid vehicle registrations (excluding plug ins) exceeded 90,000 units thru September of this year, less than 4,000 shy of the total for all of Electric vehicle market share was 1.2 percent. Hybrid cars market share in the state is now 7% – up from 5% in 2011.
Prius remains the top seller in California.
Meanwhile,used vehicle registrations fell 5.2 percent. Three year old or newer vehicles were up 16 percent, as supply shortages are easing.
California Trends
New light vehicle registrations (including retail and fleet transactions) in California increased 12.9 percent during the first nine months of this year versus a year earlier, higher than the 8.7 percent improvement in the U.S. market . Passenger car share of the overall light vehicle market in California was 62.5 percent, exceeding National levels by nearly 12 share points. Domestic brand market share (the Detroit Three) in California was 27.8 percent, up from last year, but well below the 45.2 percent share nationally. Japanese brand share in the state was 12 points higher than nationally.