2004 May - The Usual
Mitsubishi! > Cars > Sales > USA > 2004 > May Sales
PREVIOUS Q: Mitsubishi 2004 Q1 Sales Poor
Total Sales Down 20% (SUVs 32%, Cars 14%)
What can we say? Mitsubishi America tried hard to sell its vehicles in the moth of May 2004, but didn't suceed. We saw $3000 rebate ads on its Eclipse line, that seems to almost dead, registering 60% and 50% sales declines for its coupe and Spyder lines, compared to sales of May 2003. Diamante line is almost dead. Among SUV lines, Outlander and Montero and Montero Sport are showing some serious bleeding.
On positive side, Lancer and Endeavor performed moderately better (6 and 4 percentages) compared to 2003 and Galant sales was up 16% over the old design 2003 Galant. However, considering the incentive MMC had to give to the customers and dealers, and strong ad expenditures on galant ads, we doubt, Mitsubishi Motors made any money off them.
Overall sales were down 20%, while the lucrative SUV segment sales were down 32%, as compared to May 2003. We think the trend will continue.
Toyota, Honda, Nissan Shine in a Strong U.S. Market
U.S. Auto industry did well though in May 2004. It was its strongest month since December. Toyota, sales up 13 percent, had its best May ever. Honda's sales were up 14 percent in May. Nissan's sales also rose 28.4 percent. In contrast, Mitsubishi Motors sales were down 20%. Incentive are rife squeezing out the profits for smaller and less-efficient manufacturers, though. Want to guess what will happen when the market is not so robust?
Each row: Make, 2003 May unit sales, 2004 May sales, and percentage change.
Source: Mitsubishi Motors America May Sales PR
ECLIPSE COUPE 1,172 (2,977) -59.1%
ECLIPSE SPYDER 521 (1,079) -49.9%
LANCER 4,268 (4,169) 6.3%
LANCER EVOLUTION 437 (543) -16.4%
GALANT 4,792 (4,277) 16.4%
DIAMANTE 131 (863) -84.2%
TOTAL CAR 11,491 (13,909) -14.2%
OUTLANDER 1,615 (3,467) -51.6%
MONTERO SPORT 449 (1,116) -58.2%
ENDEAVOR 2,362 (2,354) 4.2%
MONTERO 454 (529) -10.9%
TOTAL 16,371 (21,375) -20.5%
Note: Mirage that has been discontinued (sold 1 unit in 2003 May) and Lancer Sportback (sold 170 in 2004 May and none in 2003 May) are not shown above.