Hawaii drivers registered 22,110 new vehicles in the first six months of this year, up nearly 20 percent from the 18,510 registered in the first half of 2011, according to a Hawaii Auto Outlook report released Wednesday.
New-vehicle registrations were up 21.5 percent in the first quarter and 17.6 percent in the second quarter and are projected to finish the year up 16.2 percent at 43,110 vehicles sold.
The Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association, which puts out the numbers, said the increase in sales is positive but the state is still well below its high-water mark for sales of 70,268 vehicles in 2005.
Between 2005 and 2009, sales plummeted to a low of 33,639.
The three major Japanese brands still dominate the Hawaii market. Toyota/ Scion leads with 26.6 percent of the market, up 1.5 points from a year ago. Honda is at 13.1 percent, off 1.9 points, and Nissan is at 10.1 percent, dipping 0.7 point from a year ago.
Jeep registrations skyrocketed nearly 72 percent in the first six months, up to 471 from 274 in the same period last year, due to better allocations from the manufacturer, said Art Toorinjian, general manager of Cutter Chrysler Dodge Ram Jeep of Honolulu and Cutter Fiat of Honolulu.
Jeep’s share of the Hawaii automotive market is at 2.1 percent for the first six months, up 0.6 percentage point from 1.5 percent in the year-ago period.
Hawaii consumers’ demand for Jeep vehicles "far outstrips" what dealers have been able to supply in the past, however, "Chrysler’s made a commitment to giving dealers what they ask for," Toorinjian said. The two Cutter Jeep dealerships in Honolulu and Pearl City "are getting everything we ask for and we’re still having trouble meeting demand," he said.
An expanded range of options packages such as a "Call of Duty" video game-branded trim package for the Jeep Wrangler, as well as stronger incentives on some models, also have contributed to the boost in sales, he said.
Jeep vehicles "move so quickly it’s made it very easy for us to keep levels up," Toorinjian said.
In addition to Windward Dodge Chrysler Jeep, the make also is available on the neighbor islands.
A lack of inventory has made the road rough for Hawaii’s BMW dealerships so far this year, said Dennis Short, president of BMW of Hawaii, but it’s not just true in the isles, where sales were down 7.8 percent.
His dealerships typically do better in the second half of the year, but a relatively new phenomenon has the lion’s share of inventory going to China.
That has caused Short’s dealerships to make do with a 20-day supply of vehicles, versus what was normally a 50- to 60-day supply.
The way life used to be, Germany would rank No. 1 in BMW sales, with the United States at No. 2, he said. "China would not even appear on the (same) page … but in 2011, they were third." Short predicts China’s expanding luxury market will "overtake the U.S. and they’ll overtake Germany in total sales" in 2012.
The flow started picking up late in the second quarter, and with the release of the BMW X1 sport utility vehicle and the BMW Gran Coupe, Short anticipates a strong second half of the year.
The new vehicles will be on display at the Pacific Links Hawai’i Championship, part of the PGA Champions Tour, at Kapolei Golf Course in mid-September. "BMW is the official car," he said.
