Asian import brands see strong U.S. sales in Nov. after difficult Q3

Asian brands continued to see improved sales results in Nov. thanks to rallying consumer confidence and bigger incentives.

Driving the news: Car sales rose for most brands last month as forecasted. The industry is expected to post a 6.7% increase in year-over-year deliveries, despite a slight decline compared to Oct. Asian brands had a particularly strong month.

Toyota came out on top, with over 207,000 units sold in the U.S., up 4.8% compared to Nov. 2023 and 11.5% from Oct. 2024.

• Its success ended a two-month losing streak for the automaker, which followed a series of safety scandals and product recalls that weakened performance.

• While Lexus sales have struggled this year, the luxury brand also posted solid results for the month, selling 33,866 units, up 9.3% from 2023 and 27.5% higher than in Oct.

Hyundai came in second, with each of its three brands (Hyundai, Genesis and Kia) seeing a jump in sales.

• The group sold 154,118 units combined, a 14.7% increase from last year and a 4.4% increase from the previous month.

• Kia saw a massive improvement in the U.S. over the previous year. Its monthly sales total of 70,107 units was 20.2% higher than Nov. 2023.

Honda reported U.S. sales of 121,419 units, a boost of 14.5% from 2024 and a full 10% from Oct.

• Both Honda and its subsidiary Acura saw volume improvements on both a monthly and yearly basis–this is a good sign for the latter, whose numbers are down 10% on a year-to-date basis.

Subaru also saw a strong month, posting sales of 57,690 units, up 8.2% from last year and 5.7% from Oct.

Looking ahead: While most brands are doing well, some Asian automakers fell behind their previous results.

Mazda saw sales shrink from Oct. Although it scored a 20.6% increase from last year, its deliveries dropped 10.4% from the previous month.

• Weaker demand for the Mazda 3, CX-5 and CX-90, which saw sales fall from last year, may have driven results down from Oct.

While Nissan no longer reports monthly sales, its recent spurt of bad luck suggests its Q4 results will be in poor shape.

• In a Thanksgiving day memo, Jeremie Papin, Nissan America Chair, asked dealers for “patience and understanding” as the company works “diligently to implement turnaround actions.”

Bottom line: Nov.’s stronger sales results indicate that consumer demand has plenty of room to grow, especially for import brands with strong reputations for quality. This, combined with strong inventory management, is helping dealers with franchises like Toyota and Honda maintain profits, even as other automakers face margin pressures in the latter half of 2024.

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