While mainland vehicle sales fall, Hawaii sales rise

- 2004-03-01 - Pacific Business News (Honolulu)
While mainland vehicle sales fall, Hawaii sales rise

Howard Dicus
Hawaii new vehicle registration, excluding rental fleets, rose 17.6 percent in 2003 to 62,712 units. National registrations fell 2.1 in 2003, the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association reports.

The figures also show that U.S. automakers have almost 56 percent of the total car and light truck market nationwide, but less than 31 percent of the Hawaii market.

Big Three car sales rose 2.7 percent in the islands, but Korean car sales rose 5.4 percent, European car sales rose 6.7 percent, and Japanese vehicle sales rose 9.9 percent.

One thing is the same here and on the mainland. Light trucks, including pickups, SUVs and vans, account for more than sales than regular automobiles. Nationwide they make up 56.3 percent of consumer vehicle sales; here, 56.6 percent.

Here is the Hawaii market share held by major automakers during the fourth quarter:

1. Toyota, 23 percent.
2. Ford, 11.2 percent.
3. Honda, 11 percent.
4. Nissan, 11 percent.
5. Chevrolet, 5.8 percent.
6. Dodge (Daimler Chrysler), 5.2 percent.
7. Mazda, 4.9 percent.
8. Lexus, 2.8 percent.
9. Volkswagen, 2.1 percent.
10. BMW, 1.8 percent.
Toyota had the two most popular cars (Corolla and Camry) and most popular truck (Tacoma) while Honda had the number three and four cars (Civic and Accord.)

Other brands, lower in the overall rankings, nevertheless showed significant sales growth in 2003. Infiniti G35 sales tripled last year to put this model in 12th place. Mini Cooper sales doubled, putting it 13th. Mazda 6 sales quadrupled to place it 15th. Sales of the Honda Pilot doubled to place it 15th among light truck sales.

Sales fell 10 percent or more during 2003 for the Mazda 3, Ford Ranger, Nissan Xterra and Volkswagen Jetta.

Here's how 2003 new car sales broke down by locality:

Oahu: 44,013, up 16.2 percent from 37,878 in 2002.
Big Island: 7,841, up 23.7 percent from 6,338 in 2002.
Maui: 7,584, up 21.7 percent from 6,232 in 2002.
Kauai: 3,273, up 14.2 percent from 2,866 in 2002.
Island preferences differed. Honda was much more popular on the Big Island than elsewhere, accounting for a quarter of all Big Island sales in 2003. Ford trucks were twice as popular on Maui as elsewhere and accounted for almost a third of all Maui light truck sales. Volkswagen had only half the market share on Kauai as it had on the other islands.

And a few loose notes:

Every Hummer gets noticed, but only 82 were sold to consumers in Hawaii last year.
Mini Cooper sales, 238 in 2002, rose to 477 last year.
More than 300 Jaguars a year are sold in Hawaii.
Hawaii consumers bought 436 Volvos and 168 Saabs last year, well above 2002 sales figures for either brand.

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