March 2014: Better Weather Is On The Horizon Edition

[Haltech]

Filed under: Car Buying, By the Numbers



After the Polar Vortex-saddled January and February months of 2014, something tells us a break in the weather is exactly what car shoppers have been waiting for. Perhaps it's all the lovely green we see in the chart below that has us in an upbeat mood, but there's no denying most automakers doing business in these United States saw big sales improvements this month, led by the seemingly unlikely duo of Maserati and Mitsubishi.

Wait... is this the same Mitsubishi that has been struggling mightily over the last several years, with some analysts questioning how long the Japanese automaker will continue to do business in the States? Yep, that one. Mitsubishi posted a strong 70-percent improvement in March compared to the same time a year ago. And, although it's a relatively small number of vehicles on the grand scheme of things, it's hard to overlook the success of Maserati, which saw its sales improve by an astounding 342 percent on the strength of new models.

Other big winners in March include Jeep, Lincoln and Jaguar, all of which have been going gangbusters for the year that has been 2014 (so far). The biggest loser was Mini, as it has been all year, with a guest appearance from Chrysler, which lost 55 percent of its 200 sedan sales. We'd expect Chrysler's sales figures to recover over the next few months as the redesigned 2015 200 hits dealership lots. The only major automotive company that didn't post an improved March was Honda, and even that loss was pretty minor at two percent. Overall, not a bad sales month for the industry.

Check out all of the month's sales figures below, and feel free to compare them with past months in our By the Numbers archive.

March 2014: Better Weather Is On The Horizon Edition originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 01 Apr 2014 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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