Certified Sales Lose a Slight Edge in February

By Joe Overby, Staff Writer, and Jennifer Reed, Auto Group Editor
March 06, 2009

TORRANCE, Calif. — After a record January, certified sales lost some momentum in February, as dealers for every automaker were unable to keep up the pace. However, a few makes still showed extremely strong results for the month.

Overall, Autodata Corp. reported February CPO sales of 127,399, 8.3 percent below the same month of last year and down 9.5 percent from January of this year.

The company noted, however, that there was one less selling day this February compared with last with 24 days as opposed to 25 days in 2008.

On a year-over-year basis, the Big 3's share dropped 4.3 percent to 42.4 percent of the marketplace. Meanwhile, Autodata indicated that Europeans' share grew by 3.5 percent to 19.9 percent, while Asians' share came in at 37.7 percent, up 0.9 percent.

Also of note, Hyundai achieved a new CPO sales high of 1,027, the company pointed out. The automaker sold 563 units last year.

Over at Lexus, its dealers moved a record 3,992 CPO vehicles during February. Year-to-date, the brand's CPO business is up 10.3 percent.

"We're pleased with the start of this year and our dealers continue to do a great job of promoting the program," said Matt Kaleba, national certified pre-owned manager for Lexus.

As for Toyota, it also had a strong showing. Norm Olson, sales operations manager for the automaker, boasted that Toyota Certified Used Vehicles was the top volume, single-line make for the month, moving 19,799 units.

"With only 24 selling days and four weekends, we managed an 825 daily sales rate, which is 30 units higher per day than last month. On a year-to-date basis, we dropped about 2,300 units from '08, but our certifications (inventory) are very strong," Olson explained.

"While obtaining inventory becomes increasingly difficult, our dealers remain strongly committed to TCUV," he added. "Two of our 12 regions had a best-ever February and six areas are ahead on sales versus YTD 2008."

Moreover, he noted that the average turn rate on certified vehicles in February was 26 days versus 71 days for a non-certified used vehicle.

"For a dealer, the grosses are higher and the turn is twice as fast as non-certified vehicles. Dealers indicate the presentation of a TCUV cuts the negotiation in half. Toyota Certified is a win for the customer, a win for the dealer and a win for Toyota," he told Auto Remarketing.

Infiniti reported certified sales of 979 for the month, which is up 277 percent over the previous February. Nissan moved 5,170 vehicles, up 6 percent over last year. And overall, both brands in North America posted sales of 6,149, which is an increase of 20 percent over last February.

Neal Zirkle, senior manager of CPO & Pre-Owned Vehicles at Nissan, indicated that this was his automaker's third highest recorded sales month since 2007.

"Our mix between cars and trucks CPO sales is shifting toward cars over the last few months and values at auction are improving as we approach the spring selling season," he went on to point out. "The dealer network is well-positioned to offer consumers near-new products at great values, attracting new customers to our brands while expanding our customer base connected to the dealerships.

"Our studies show that CPO customers are returning for service at a higher rate than used-car buyers and are also returning more frequently than non-CPO customers. This trend has been recognized by dealer network and is fast becoming a strong source of profitable business for the dealers as they look to maximize all profit centers now and in for the future," Zirkle stated.

Moving on, Mercedes-Benz sold 5,795 certified vehicles in February, which was a 28.3-percent improvement from last year. Year-to-date CPO sales are 12,548, up 54.1 percent from a year ago.

BMW's CPO sales for February totaled 9,350 units, a 12.5-percent upswing from the same period of 2008. So far this year, BMW has sold 19,357 certified units versus 15,624 in the first two months of 2008. Meanwhile, Mini moved 180 units in February.

"Our CPO vehicle program has helped to broaden BMW's customer base in the U.S. considerably," said Peter Miles, executive vice president of BMW of North America. 

"It is an important tool attracting a new generation of BMW buyers and we expect many to move up to new vehicles when the market improves, and this is another benefit in addition to helping our dealers to weather the current economic situation," he continued.

Volkswagen dealers had certified sales of 3,602 models, compared with 2,668 in 2008.

"We have had a great start to the year," stated Rob Martin, CPO manager for VW Sales Operations. "Our dealers continue to promote our CPO vehicles and we are getting new dealers engaged in selling CPO vehicles.

"We hope this is a trend that will continue and more and more Volkswagen dealers take advantage of the benefits our program provides," he continued.

Audi, meanwhile, posted CPO sales of 2,467 vehicles, compared to 3,023 in February 2008. Year-to-date figures are down from 5,616 units to 5,066 models.

"Audi Certified Pre-Owned sales maintained solid numbers regardless of the difficult market," officials explained.

Among domestics, GM Certified Used Vehicles had sales of 28,204 units in February, off 25-percent from a year ago.

That said, some GM brands showed improvements.

For example, Saturn was up 17 percent after selling 828 vehicles last month. Cadillac moved 3,303 CPO models, a 1-percent hike. 

Meanwhile, Saab improved by 4 percent to sell 476 certified vehicles and HUMMER moved 203 CPO units, a 31-percent spike.

"Despite slow sales in February, the certified pre-owned program continues to be a bright spot for GM, our dealers and the automotive industry as a whole," commented Mark LaNeve, vice president of GM North America vehicle sales, service and marketing.

"In particular, we are proud of the strong performance of our luxury CPO brands that continue to show good growth year-over-year," he added. "We are providing a tremendous value for customers and dealers in very challenging times for the industry and economy."

Meanwhile, Paul Pejza, manager of GM Certified Used Vehicles, also chimed in offering his thoughts. He indicated, "January sales were up, but it appears that February sales were down. We're still optimistic that sales will continue to rise in 2009. Dealers continue to see value in our certified used-vehicle program because of the new 12-month/12,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty that reinforces our confidence in the durability and reliability of our vehicles, and offers four times the coverage of most of our competitors.

"We continue to extend our marketing outreach efforts by listing our certified-used vehicle inventory on eight of the top 10 automotive shopping sites including eBay Motors, AutoTrader.com and Cars.com that provides consumers convenient access to our entire inventory. Additionally, GM Certified dealers continue to promote our inventory through their individual dealer Web sites supported by GM's partnership with Cobalt," he continued.

As for Ford, year-over-year, certified sales for its brands were up 10.8 percent in February. A total of 12,670 units were sold, compared to 11,435 in the last February.

In a breakdown by brand, Ford moved 10,774 units, while Lincoln/Mercury sold 1,896, compared to 9,694 and 1,741, respectively, last year.

"In this challenging economic environment, the Ford Motor Certified Pre-Owned program provides customers with value and peace of mind. The CPO program is bringing in conquest customers to experience the tremendous quality of Ford Motor Co.'s exciting products," explained Glenn Burke, certified pre-owned manager for Ford.

Looking at Chrysler numbers, Auto Remarketing found that the Chrysler brand sold 2,555 CPO units for the month, compared with 3,693 last February. For Dodge, dealers moved 3,672 versus 5,089 in 2008. Moreover, Jeep sold 2,622 vehicles, compared with 2,871 in the prior year.

Moving on, Volvo sold 1,969 CPO units, up from 1,932 a year ago. Honda dealers moved 12,075 certified vehicles, compared to 14,961 units the previous year. 

Subaru had certified sales of 1,110 modles, compared to 570 a year ago.

Acura, meanwhile, posted CPO sales of 3,155 vehicles, versus 2,946 a year ago. 

Mazda's certified sales were 410 units, compared to 391 in the same period of 2008. 

Kia reported that it sold 247certified vehicles during the month, up from 99 in 2008. 

Jaguar reported CPO sales of 407 vehicles, down from 577 in 2008. At Land Rover, dealers sold 512 CPO models, compared ot 635 last February. 

Mitsubishi sold approximately 70 certified vehicles, off from 149 in February 2008, and Bentley was estimated to have sold 60 CPO units, unchanged from 2008.

Finally, Porsche tallied certified sales of 500 units during the month, down from 548 in the same period of 2008. Yearly sales are at 1,061 vehicles, 50 units off last year's pace.