Family Vehicles Selling Again

When the economy and car sales started tanking last summer, I pointed out that a major economic indicator was that family-friendly vehicles were seeing their sales flatline. In June, despite still-negative numbers from all manufacturers, crossovers both large and small — and even some SUVs — saw sales start to pick back up.

Overall, Ford had a pretty good June, with sales down just 10% compared with June 2008. Its Flex crossover, which was slow to take off, had its best sales month ever, hitting sales of 4,784. The Ford Escape — which handled itself well during the bout of high gas prices last summer — had a positive uptick of 1.9%, sporting impressive sales of 15,385. How badly did gas prices hurt the SUV market last year? So badly that the large Expedition posted positive sales in June 2009 compared with its woeful June 2008, up 7.1%.

Even though GM is in bankruptcy and its June sales were down 36% compared with June 2008, sales were up 10.4% for the GMC Acadia and 26%.3 for the Buick Enclave three-row crossovers. Their newest sibling, the Chevy Traverse, which went on sale earlier this year, outsold both with 7,289 units sold. None of GM’s traditional SUVs saw a sales uptick, however.

Honda and Toyota saw drops in overall sales of more than 30%, mainly due to Accord, Camry, Civic and Corolla sales being cut nearly in half versus last June, as buyers sought out high-mileage cars when faced with soaring gas prices. However, Honda’s Odyssey minivan saw a rebirth in sales fueled by low-financing offers. It was narrowly edged out of the top 10 of best-selling models with 14,670 units sold, which is an 11.8% increase. The Honda Pilot SUV also gained 7.7% in sales volume.

Toyota’s Sienna minivan and Highlander crossover weren’t as lucky, with the Sienna dropping a profound 39.1% in sales, while the Highlander dropped just 3.8%. The Sienna is an aging model, however. The all-new Venza crossover saw nearly record sales, ringing up 4,521 for June, which makes up for any loss in Sienna sales.

What does this mean? Frugal families are spending again on practical, utilitarian transportation. With incentives spending near a record high, they’re likely getting good deals, too. Hopefully, this is one economic indicator we can see continue to improve.