September Sales Show Continued Surge

The latter half of September proved to be a challenging one for Volkswagen. The question is: How did their diesel emissions crisis impact their September sales numbers?

For most automakers, September was a month to celebrate, for Volkswagen it was a sobering time. The German-based automaker rose 1 percent year-over-year amid a chaotic few weeks in which the organization has dealt with the public relations fallout from their diesel emissions crisis. Other automakers enjoyed a strong September, bolstered by Labor Day. Here are the numbers for some of the year-over-year figures for top automakers during the month of September courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.

• GM +12.5%
• Ford +23.3%
• Toyota +16.2%
• FCA +13.6%
• Honda +13.1%
• Nissan +18.3%

Also noteworthy is Hyundai, which saw a climb of 14.3 percent and Tesla Motors reports they delivered 49 percent more cars in the third quarter of 2015 than during the same time frame last year. Besides the struggles for VW, auto sales are very strong. The retail auto industry is on pace for their best year since 2000 and the SAAR hit 18.3 million for September, its highest rate since 2005, the WSJ reports.

Speaking about the state of auto sales based on September figures on CNBC on September 1 was AutoNation CEO, Mike Jackson. Jackson talked about the lack of stock that he puts in the SAAR. Speaking to CNBC Jackson said, “I think that the 18.3 selling rate is a government number that’s totally irrelevant and does not properly adjust for moving the Labor Day holiday to the month of September, I think it’s an inflated number. But the fundament fact is that it’s going to be one of the best auto sales years ever.”

With a lot of positive signs for most of retail automotive, do you think 17 million auto sales will happen in the U.S. in 2015? What do you make of the comments by Mike Jackson about the lack of legitimacy with the SAAR? Will retail automotive sales numbers continue to look strong moving into the October and the rest of the year?