Asians See Third-Highest U.S. Share on Resurgent Japanese; Koreans Lose Ground

The sales recovery at Toyota and Honda, plus continued steady growth for several other brands, drove Asian auto makers to their third-highest share of the U.S. light-vehicle market, reaching 45.8% in 2012, WardsAuto data shows.

Last year also marked the third time Asian manufacturers led all regional groups, topping the 44.6% share of the Detroit Three and easily dwarfing the 9.6% stake held by the Europeans.

The all-time record U.S. market share for Asian auto makers is 47.5%, set in 2009. But that figure slipped in ensuing years, especially in 2011 as the Japan earthquake and tsunami hobbled production.

No.1 Japanese auto maker Toyota, which saw its piece of the U.S. market grow 1.5 percentage points to 14.4%, maintains its recovery has as much to do with new-model introductions as with getting its inventory back in order.

Toyota debuted 19 new or updated models in 2012 and gained good traction from late-2011 introductions, such as the Camry midsize sedan.

The Camry once again led all U.S. cars last year on a volume of 404,886 vehicles, roughly 70,000 more units than the No.2 Honda Accord.

Credit for Toyota’s share rise also goes to the Prius family, which tallied 236,659 units in 2012, putting it well above any other U.S. hybrid nameplate. Lexus’ recovery played a role as well, although the luxury brand’s 23.0% volume increase last year equated only to a slight uptick in market share.

Honda rebounded sharply, with U.S. share increasing to 9.9%, from 9.0% in 2011.

The Accord’s 331,872 deliveries made the model Honda’s best-seller, while the Civic topped the Toyota Corolla as the No.1 U.S. compact car. Sales of the Civic generally were strong all year, despite criticism of the car’s interior from automotive media and a hurried redesign for ’13.

Honda’s CR-V again was the top utility vehicle in the U.S., with sales approaching 300,000 units. The CR-V ended 2012 with 281,652 units, vs. 218,373 in 2011.

Volume for Honda’s Acura near-luxury brand increased 26.7% in the year, but that equated to only a modest 0.1- point share increase from 2011.

Nissan had a mixed 2012. While deliveries reached a record 1.142 million units, the auto maker lost 0.3 points of market share, ending the year at 7.9%.

It rolled out a new Altima midsize sedan, and sales of the car (including a coupe version), rose 12.6%. The Versa subcompact remained the top seller in its segment, with volume up 13.6%.

But other Nissan cars, including the Sentra compact and Cube box, underperformed prior-year.

The Leaf electric car also was underwhelming, a performance well-publicized throughout the year. Volume totaling 9,819 units was well below Nissan’s annual target of 20,000.

Sales for Nissan’s Infiniti, which is embarking on a new naming strategy this year, climbed 21.8% in 2012, to 119,877 units, although the luxury brand’s market share remained at 0.8%.

While Koreans Hyundai and Kia have been juggernauts in recent years, gobbling up much of Toyota and Honda’s lost ground in 2011, they stumbled in 2012.

Both brands again saw record volumes, with Hyundai surpassing 700,000 units and Kia 550,000. However, Hyundai’s market share fell for the first time in 14 years, dropping to 4.9% from 5.1% in 2011.

The auto maker enjoyed record sales of its Sonata midsize sedan and Elantra compact car, although its utility vehicles continued to underwhelm.

Kia eked out a 0.1-point increase in share, taking 3.9% of the U.S. LV market.

The Optima midsize sedan became the brand’s third vehicle in a calendar year to sell more than 100,000 units, following the Sorento utility vehicle and boxy Soul compact.

Sales of the Sorento and Soul again topped the 6-digit mark last year, although the Sorento lost 8.2% of its 2011 volume.

Subaru continued its hot streak in the U.S. in 2012, with sales again jumping sharply from year-ago. Deliveries rose 26.6% to 336,441 units, and the brand commanded a 2.3% share, compared with. 2.1% in 2011.

It was Subaru’s fourth-straight volume increase in the U.S., driven by nearly all vehicle lines, barring the perennially underperforming Tribeca.

The Outback remained Subaru’s best-selling model, up 12.6% to 117,553 units.

Despite a 10.6% increase in volume last year, Mazda’s share slipped to 1.9% from 2.0% in 2011. The Mazda3 was the brand’s top-seller once again with 123,361 units, up 20.4% from 2011.

Car sales carried the day for Mazda, as all utility vehicles, except the all-new CX-5, fell below 2011 volume.

Mitsubishi continued to struggle in 2012, delivering only 57,790 units, down 26.9% from 2011. Its share fell to 0.4% from 0.6% in 2011.

The brand didn’t see the boost hoped for from the tiny i electric car, which recorded just 588 sales in 2012. Most other Mitsubishi vehicles were in the red, although a domestically built Outlander Sport added 4,965 units.

Despite the low volume, Mitsubishi maintains it will not follow Japanese rival Suzuki out of the U.S. market.

Suzuki pulled the plug on its U.S. sales arm in the fall. While enjoying a brief resurgence in October and November thanks to close-out sales, deliveries once again fell below year-ago in December. The brand ended 2012 with 25,358 units, down 4.7% from 2011.

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