Domestics Lose Grip on Chicago

The same summer it got the honor of the highest gas prices in the nation, the Chicago market has now officially joined the rest of the crowd and gone Japanese.

If it can happen here it can happen anywhere, probably even New York.

Long a stronghold for domestic sales while the rest of the country went import, in the first six months of this year Japanese nameplate sales rose 8% over last year to 135,431 units in Chicago, outselling the traditional Big Three domestic nameplates, whose sales fell 5% to 121,783 units in the Chicago area. Last month also marked the first time domestics lost the national market-share race. 

Japanese nameplate market share rose 3.5% to 44.6% of the Chicago market, up from 41.1% last year, while the traditional domestics held a 40.1% share of the market, down from 43.6% a year ago, when domestics were still No. 1.

Sales statistics, compiled by Pennsylvania automotive research firm Auto Outlook for the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, hint at fuel economy as the reason why the Japanese are now dominant in a market in which domestics ruled for decades.

Of the five top-selling nameplates in this market, three are Japanese — No. 1 Toyota, No. 2 Honda and No. 5 Nissan. Chevy is No. 3, while Ford is No. 4. Of the five top-selling vehicles in the first half of the year, all were Japanese: Toyota Camry, Honda Civic, Honda Accord, Toyota Corolla and Honda CR-V. The Camry, Civic and Accord all offer hybrid versions, while the Corolla and CR-V are small and fuel-efficient.

The best-selling domestic was the Chevrolet Impala sedan, which finished eighth in sales.

Other noteworthy sales stats for the first half of the year just released by Auto Outlook include:

Vehicles posting sales gains in the first half of the year were either small or smaller versions of larger vehicles — midsize crossovers, entry-level cars, compact SUVs, midsize cars, midsize luxury SUVs and subcompact cars — while those losing ground were ones prone to burn more fuel — midsize SUVs, large cars, luxury cars, sports cars, full-size SUVs and minivans.

The only market segment dominated by a traditional domestic was full-­size pickups. The domestics accounted for 91.7% percent of all full-size pickup sales.

Brand names taking it on the chin were Cadillac, with a 41% decline in registrations, Mercury (29%), Buick (25%), Pontiac (24%) and Ford (18%), while the winners were Saturn (24% gain), Kia (20%), Nissan (11%), Lincoln/GMC/Toyota (7%) and Audi (4%).