Although not favored, the US automotive market has maintained a sustained upward trend since the beginning of this year, as production resumes, inventory levels continue to increase, and car companies expand their incentives.

　　LMC Automotive stated that the sales of light vehicles in the United States in April were 1.36 million units, a 10% increase from the same period last year. Among them, retail sales were 1.06 million units, and fleet shipments were 296000 units. The latter's market share increased to 22%. Meanwhile, this is the first time this year that the year-on-year growth rate of the market has exceeded double digits.

　　Meanwhile, Motor Intelligence also stated that SAAR, measured by seasonally adjusted annualized sales rates, rebounded to 16.15 million light vehicles in the United States in April after falling below 15 million to 14.9 million vehicles in March, far exceeding expectations and exceeding the previous January's 16.12 million vehicles. Therefore, April became the best performing month in May 2021.

　　Based on months of sustained growth, LMC has once again raised its forecast for the total sales of light vehicles in the United States for the entire year, with the latest expected value reaching 15.3 million units after two consecutive adjustments.

　　Toyota has been declining for 4 consecutive months due to insufficient inventory

　　From the performance of seven car companies that announced specific sales, most of them have indeed achieved good results. For example, Hyundai Kia has seen its ninth consecutive month of growth, and Honda has become the only car company to increase by more than 20%.

　　Specifically, although there is still a shortage in the supply chain, thanks to the strong performance of light trucks, which offset losses from the sedan market, Toyota finally saw its first growth of the year in April, with a year-on-year increase of 0.7% to 186310 vehicles. Among them, the Lexus brand increased by 21.9% year-on-year, while the Toyota brand continued to decline by 2.2%.

　　Since the beginning of this year, the Toyota brand has been declining for four consecutive months, mainly due to the poor performance of most of its main sales models.

　　In April, except for the Camry, Tacoma, and Tundra, which saw year-on-year growth of 6.1%, 20.2%, and 50.5% respectively, creating significant growth, all other Toyota models saw year-on-year declines, such as the Carraro down 31.8%, the Prius down 29.3%, the 4Runner down 21.7%, the RAV4 down 9.6%, and the Highlander down 2.2%.

　　It is gratifying that Toyota's inventory is still recovering, with 146703 vehicles as of the end of April. Although most of them are still in port or transportation, it is significantly higher than 137067 vehicles in the same period last year.

　　Ford, which has slightly lower sales than Toyota, achieved its fifth consecutive month of positive growth in April, with 182623 vehicles achieving its best performance since May 2021, mainly driven by the Ford brand.

　　Although the sales of its crossover cars and SUVs fell by 11% year-on-year in April, due to a 21% year-on-year increase in pickup truck sales, especially the F-series sales, which increased by 35.1% year-on-year to 69595 units, creating a new increment of 18000 units, completely offsetting the losses caused by Bronco, Bronco Sport, EcoSport, Explorer, Maverick, Mustang Mach-E, and Ranger, the Ford brand still grew by 5.6% year-on-year, and the group was able to grow by 3.8%.

　　In terms of inventory, as of the end of April, the total inventory of Ford cars and light trucks has decreased, from 405100 in March to 376600.

　　After reaching 152000 vehicles in March, Hyundai Kia fell back to 145000 vehicles in April, with 76000 Hyundai cars and 68000 Kia cars.

　　Unlike the relatively high proportion of fleet shipments in the overall market, Hyundai and Kia mainly rely on the retail market. For example, in April, the former had 64895 vehicles from ordinary consumers, equivalent to 92% of total sales. Kia's electric vehicle sales continued to maintain a high trend, with a year-on-year increase of 74% in April to 11798 units.

　　As for Honda Motors, with the gradual improvement of inventory, the group achieved its largest growth since June 2021 in April, with its Honda and Acura brands increasing by 21.1% and 24.9% year-on-year, respectively. Among them, Honda's best-selling Accord, Civic, CR-V, Odyssey, and Pilot all saw good sales growth, with CR-V and Odyssey increasing by 76.5% and 97.5% respectively.

　　At the same time, Honda's dealer inventory has also significantly increased, with the Honda brand reaching 38000 units in April, compared to only 12000 units in the same period last year. Acura has also climbed from 5500 units a year ago to 26000 units.

　　There is still uncertainty in the future car market

　　With the improvement of some car companies, the overall inventory level of the market is gradually recovering. According to estimated data from J.D.Power and LMC Automotive, retail inventory in April was 1.2 million units, which is basically the same as March and an increase of 45% compared to the same period last year.

　　However, Cox Automotive stated that as of the end of April, Kia, Toyota, Honda, Lexus, Subaru, BMW, Land Rover, Hyundai, and Volkswagen still have low inventory levels in the US market.

　　With the recovery of production and inventory, the discount offered by distributors is constantly increasing. According to TrueCar data, the average discount amount for the US automotive industry in April was $1606 per vehicle, an increase of 4.2% month on month and a year-on-year increase of 21%.

　　It should be noted that while the discounts are gradually increasing, the average transaction price of new cars is still high. According to data from TrueCar, the average transaction price of a single car in April still reached $45251, a decrease of only 0.9% month on month and a year-on-year increase of 2.8%.

　　In an uncertain economic environment, higher car prices will not be conducive to the release of retail demand, so the trend of the car market may experience significant fluctuations in the coming months.

　　As Randy Parker, the CEO of Hyundai Motor in the United States, said, there is definitely market demand and consumers have some flexibility. However, due to the rise in interest rates, completing sales work is becoming increasingly difficult. Indeed, when the price of a product becomes more expensive, buying a car becomes more challenging for consumers.

　　TrueCar analyst Zack Krelle stated that the burden problem still exists due to high prices, and their research found that low-priced vehicles below $30000 are sold more quickly.

　　Regarding this, Eric Watson, the sales director of Kia, stated that due to the regulation of the product camp and flexible production during the epidemic, Kia's discount intensity remains at a relatively low level. Parker stated that Hyundai is still striving to balance its continued focus on the retail market with maintaining commercial and fleet relationships.

　　The only good news is that as car companies offset higher financing costs by increasing APR relief, car loan interest rates seem to be stabilizing at the moment.

　　In fact, the current upward trend in the US car market is mainly due to the release of suppressed retail demand after the epidemic, coupled with the fact that car companies are dealing with backlog of orders from commercial, government, and rental customers. However, based on high prices and the uncertain economic situation, there is great uncertainty about how long this good trend can be maintained.