5 Key takeaways from April U.S. sales report

U.S. light-vehicle sales, after growing 20 consecutive months year over year, took a breather in April.

Volume slipped 3.9 percent to 1.32 million last month compared with April 2023, GlobalData said in a preliminary report, with retail sales totaling 1.09 million and fleet volume of 229,000, down 17 percent and 17.4 percent of overall deliveries.

David Oakley, head of automotive forecasting for the Americas at GlobalData, said the market continues to be decidedly mixed, with some automakers performing well and others struggling.

U.S. light-vehicle sales were expected to drop about 2 percent in April, reflecting one less selling day than a year earlier and weaker fleet shipments. The market grew 5.6 percent in the first quarter.

Here are some key takeaways from April.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales last month tallied 15.7 million, near the bottom of the range of forecasts — 15.6 million to 16 million vehicles — according to projections from J.D. Power/GlobalData, Cox Automotive and S&P Global Mobility. The SAAR tallied 15.41 million in March and 15.77 million in April 2023. While the market has steadily bounced back from the pandemic and chip shortage, it remains well below the peak years of 2015 to 2019, when sales topped 17 million.

The daily selling rate, 52,700, also fell in April from March's 53,700 pace, and was essentially flat versus April 2023.

"The industry is now facing a higher bar in order to keep growing," said Oakley. "Lower pricing and higher incentives will likely be required to push sales up to the next level, but there are a number of headwinds keeping the market in check." He cited elevated new-vehicle prices and borrowing costs as still the biggest challenges to convert shoppers into buyers.

GlobalData said General Motors was the top automaker for the third straight month, besting Toyota Motor Corp. by around 10,000 vehicles. Toyota was the top brand with sales of 183,000, followed by Ford with 170,302 and Chevrolet with estimated sales of 144,000. For the first time since September 2023, the Ford F-150 was the bestselling model, with 40,700 deliveries in April, GlobalData estimated. The Toyota RAV4, the top-selling model the six previous months, tallied April sales of 39,062.

It was another strong month for hybrids.

April sales of electrified vehicles, nearly all of them gasoline-electric hybrids, rose 59 percent at the Toyota brand and accounted for 36 percent of Toyota Motor Corp.'s volume, up from 27 percent a year earlier.

At Ford Motor Co., hybrid sales jumped 60 percent to 17,997. Hyundai said it set April sales records for three hybrids, the Elantra, Tucson and Santa Fe. Honda said hybrids represented 51 percent of Accord sales and 46 percent of CR-V volume last month.

GlobalData said U.S. inventory levels at the end of April are expected to rise 2 percent to about 2.652 million from 2.6 million in March, with days' supply climbing to 50.

Toyota said it ended April with 217,080 cars and light trucks in stock, or a 26-day supply, with slightly more of it at ports or in transit, up from 146,703 at the end of April 2023. The Toyota division is starting May with a 23-day supply of vehicles while Lexus has a 41-day supply, the company said. Ford said it ended April with U.S. gross vehicle stock of 532,800, up 43 percent from 371,400 a year earlier. Honda brand inventories closed April at 161,790, down from 166,629 to start the month, but up from 93,039 at the end of April 2023.

Incentives continue to rise across the board, reaching $3,087 per vehicle, on average, in April, Motor Intelligence said, an increase of 81 percent over April 2023. Year-to-date incentives through April are nearing $3,000 at $2,966, up 92 percent.

Brands with the biggest increase in average incentives last month include Kia, up 185 percent to $2,732; Hyundai, up 152 percent to $3,161; Volkswagen, up 133 percent to $4,225; GMC, up 126 percent to $4,078; and Subaru, up 121 percent to $2,079, Motor Intelligence said.

Discounts on electric vehicles remained elevated last month, Motor Intelligence estimated, even on new models such as the Honda Prologue, which saw an average discount of $5,737. But not all EVs need heavy discounts, Motor Intelligence data shows. Tesla is offering zero deals on the Cybertruck, and incentives last month averaged just $49 on the GMC Hummer EV pickup and $298 on the GMC Hummer EV SUV.

At the other extreme, deals on the Nissan Ariya hit a monthly high of $16,828. And the Kia EV6 required higher average incentives, $16,187, than the newer, more expensive and much larger Kia EV9, at $12,379.

With new-vehicle prices remaining elevated and financing costs higher, consumers are still migrating to smaller, more affordable vehicles, especially crossovers.

April was a big month for subcompact and compact crossovers, many of which easily outperformed the overall market: Toyota RAV4, up 29 percent; Honda CR-V, up 1.4 percent; Honda HR-V, up 49 percent; Hyundai Kona, up 21 percent; Subaru Crosstrek, up 18 percent; Kia Seltos, up 4.5 percent; Subaru Forester, up 85 percent; Toyota Corolla Cross, up 39 percent; Mazda CX-30, up 29 percent; Kia Sportage, up 2.3 percent and Mazda CX-50, up 21 percent.