5 auto sales surprises we didn't see coming in 2014
No matter how closely you watch auto sales, it seems there always are surprises, and 2014 had its share.
Here are five "Say what?" developments from the year's sales reports:
• Honda starts selling bigger numbers of those aging Pilots. Who'da thought? Took cheap lease deals to get the three-row SUV moving out the door, but, hey, at least Honda still can say it doesn't resort to deeply discounted prices, the way rivals do. Wink, wink.
• Kia roars up the charts in December for a strong year because of ... a new minivan? The new Sedona is selling great. So, too, is the boxy little Soul. Not mainstream models nowadays, so Kia's onto something.
• Ford loses almost no sales during the extensive factory retooling for the 2015 F-150 pickup with the aluminum body. The Great Opiners were expecting more lost sales, but — big surprise — Ford understands inventory management and never left dealers short of trucks to sell. F-series sales finished 2014 within about 1% of the 2013 total.
• Chevrolet Colorado midsize pickup found about 4,000 takers in December for a total of about twice that in the few months its been on sale. GM seemed pretty sure it would eat deeply into Toyota Tacoma sales. Well, Tacoma still sells about 13,000 a month and a new Tacoma will be unveiled next week at the Detroit auto show. Whatever window of opportunity GM had to sell lots of Colorados and similar GMC Canyons to potential Tacoma buyers seems to be closing.
• Chrysler 200, an expanded version of the Dodge Dart, goes nuts in December and ends the year with genuine momentum after a slow start earlier in the year. The new 200 is light-years better than the old one, and it's fancier than the Dart — but the growing success probably has more to do with the dealerships' hustle than the automaker's acute product planning.