Car sales rose in third quarter

New vehicle registrations for the first nine months of the year were up 9.1 percent over the same period last year, buoyed by a 3.6 percent increase in the third quarter, according to a new report.

"The numbers are very encouraging," said Bill van den Hurk, president of the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association.

The quarterly Hawaii Auto Outlook report shows that 41,039 new vehicles were registered through September, compared with 37,609 in the first nine months of 2013. Hawaii’s 9.1 percent gain is better than the national increase of 6.3 percent for the period.

The report projects that Hawaii is on track to see an 8.8 percent increase in new vehicle registrations this year compared with 2013.

The National Automobile Dealers Association predicts U.S. sales of new cars and trucks will hit a 10-year high of 16.94 million in 2015.

The group says rising employment and wages, continued low interest rates and lower gas prices will help increase sales next year.

U.S. auto sales are expected to reach 16.4 million this year, up 5 percent from 2013.

If sales nationally reach 16.94 million next year, it will be the best year for the industry since 2005, when 16.95 million vehicles were sold, according to Ward’s AutoInfoBank.

U.S. sales of new vehicles peaked at 17.3 million in 2000 but later fell due to high gas prices and, later, the recession. Sales dropped to 10.4 million in 2009 but have been rising ever since.

Hawaii also hit a low point during the recession in 2009, with only 33,639 vehicle registrations that year compared with the state’s peak of 70,268 in 2005.

"Slow growth is better than overnight success," van den Hurk said.

The Hawaii Auto Outlook report finds Toyota still topping the state in sales. Toyota Corolla is the top-selling car, while the Toyota Tacoma is the top-selling light truck. The only non-Japa­nese brand among the top 10, market share-wise, is Ford F Series trucks, in ninth place.

Japanese brands comprise 63.2 percent of the year-to-date market, compared with 19.8 percent for Detroit’s Big Three (GM, Ford and Chrysler); meanwhile, registrations of light trucks, which include pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and minivans, rose 13.5 percent through September.

That is likely attributable to falling gas prices, said Dave Rolf, executive director of the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association, or HADA. "When gas prices go down, those types of vehicles … show upticks," he said. That the construction sector is red-hot also could be a factor, Rolf said.

"I can see us moving back up toward those times, approaching 70,000 cars" a year in Hawaii, Rolf said.

The lion’s share of Hawaii’s new vehicle registrations through the first nine months were of Toyota Tacoma models, at more than twice the number of the leading car, the Toyota Corolla.

"We like to think it is because Toyota vehicles meet the needs of our customers and that all Toyota Hawaii dealers do a good job of taking care of their customers," said Rick Ching, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Servco Pacific Inc., parent company of Servco Automotive.

Servco Automotive operates 11 Toyota, Lexus, Su­baru, Scion and Chevrolet dealerships around the state. Toyota Hawaii, a unit of Servco, also serves as the Toyota, Scion and Subaru distributor for Hawaii, and it provides inventory to independent dealerships around the islands.

"The Tacoma has been the top light truck for quite some time," Ching said.

On the mainland the Ford F Series is the market leader, but in Hawaii the smaller, higher-mpg Toyota model is more popular for both commercial and personal recreational uses, Ching said.

The Toyota Corolla has not always been the top-selling car in the islands, he said, as it has volleyed for position with the Camry, a sister-model, as well as against the Honda Civic and Accord.

Auto Outlook noted a 22 percent gain by other brands in the first nine months of the year, including Ram, Subaru, Kia, Jeep and Infiniti.

Van den Hurk, in addition to being HADA president, is president of Aloha Auto Group Ltd., which has seven Kia dealerships around the state and two Harley-Davidson dealerships on Hawaii island and Kauai.

Van den Hurk said while all of its models are selling well, the biggest gain has come in sales of Kia Soul models, selling 103 last month and 116 in September. While officials believed the car would be popular with younger buyers, "we’re selling them to 70-year-old people," van den Hurk said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.