NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

MEDIA CONTACT:
Sara Panza
Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers’ Association
440.746.1500

Weather Does Not Detour
Northern Ohio Automotive Consumers 

Cleveland, OH (March 14, 2014) –  Adverse weather did not detour Northern Ohio consumers from buying vehicles in February, with sales of cars and light trucks growing more than two percent for the month, according to figures released today by the Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers’ Association (GCADA).

“While weather did play a role in keeping numbers from growing as much as we anticipated, it was still a strong month overall for auto dealers in Northern Ohio, which is good news for our local economy,” said Louis A. Vitantonio, president of the GCADA. “With the excitement generated by the recent Cleveland Auto Show and increased manufacturer incentives available at our member dealers, we expect March to be a very strong month as well.”

Franchised new vehicle dealers sold a total of 13,608 cars and light trucks in February of this year, compared to 13,332 sold in February of 2013, an increase of 2.07 percent. For the year to date, new vehicle dealers have sold 32,661 vehicles, an increase of 2.75 percent over the same time period a year ago.

Despite having a slightly lower February of 2014 versus the same month a year prior, Ford continued to be Northern Ohio’s largest selling brand, selling 2,540 vehicles to Chevrolet’s 1,951. Honda came in third, selling 1,011 vehicles to fourth place Toyota’s 965.

Not too surprisingly, brands that sold four-wheel and all-wheel drive vehicles performed very well in February. Jeep saw a sales increase of almost 48 percent over February of 2013, while Land Rover rang up an increase of over 27 percent. Subaru also saw a sales increase of over 22 percent when comparing February of 2014 with February of 2013.

Congratulations to Lincoln, which posted an increase of over 88 percent in February of 2014 over the same month a year prior.

15 Brands Up in February (‘14 v. ‘13)
The following brands posted sales increases in February of 2014 versus February of 2013: BMW, Dodge, Fiat, GMC, Infiniti, Jaguar, Jeep, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mazda, Mini, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Volkswagen.

17 Brands Up Year-to-Date Through February 2014
The following brands posted sales increases for the year-to-date: Acura, BMW, Dodge, GMC, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jaguar, Jeep, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Smart, Subaru and Toyota.

New-car and truck sales in Northern Ohio
February ‘14 / February ‘13 & YTD 

Retail sales figures are based on vehicle registration reports from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.  Vehicle sales data includes the counties of: Ashland, Ashtabula, Carroll, Columbiana, Coshocton, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Holmes, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Richland, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Tuscarawas and Wayne.