Chrysler ranks highest in fleet registrations in 2012
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A certain portion of any vehicle OEM’s annual sales goes to fleet purchasers – a market that sometimes offers lucrative sales, but can also represent a low-margin dumping ground for hard-to-move products.
According to a DesRosiers Automotive Consultants analysis of data from R.L. Polk & Co., approximately 18.0 percent of new vehicles registered in Canada in 2012 were sold to fleets.
At a brand level, Chrysler and Dodge passenger cars had the Canadian auto industry’s highest proportion of fleet sales in 2012, with approximately 44.3 percent and 49.6 percent of each brand’s respective passenger car sales accounted for by fleet registrations. Chrysler and Dodge cars are common fixtures on daily rental lots, and heavy fleet sales have been a notable element of the brands’ post-restructuring strategy as Chrysler’s passenger car line-up has struggled to match the roaring success of its Dodge truck and Jeep siblings.
The industry’s most fleet-free brands in 2012 were Honda (3.2% fleet), Scion (3.8% fleet) and MINI (5.7% fleet). Whatever success these brands achieved in 2012 (and all three saw double-digit growth last year) was won largely through one-at-a-time sales to individual consumers.
Among luxury brands, Volvo leads the industry in fleet penetration with 39.6 percent of its 2012 sales accounted for by fleet registrations. Competing brands such as Jaguar (8.2% fleet), Audi (10.0% fleet) and BMW (11.1%) trail.
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