• by Karl Greenberg , February 3, 2015

It's like a touchdown on the first play of the game. Thanks to cheap gas, easier credit, better consumer confidence and lots of new cars and trucks (especially trucks) to consider, January was a big one. Kia broke a record for January. So did Hyundai, Subaru, Honda and Mercedes-Benz. Ford posted its best January in over a decade. General Motors and Chrysler posted their best January in seven years.

It's no surprise that the month just passed was better than the month last year. Said Karl Brauer, senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book: “Car sales were held back last January by the ‘polar vortex,’ which is only adding to the year-over-year growth numbers we're seeing this January. But with last month's sales numbers higher than we've seen since before the recession, there clearly is strong momentum in the industry.” 

But it was really a truck month for the Detroit brands. FCA's Jeep division posted its best-ever January numbers, and sibling brand Ram saw a 14% lift in sales. Ford posted a 17% increase for its F-150 trucks, constituting over 54,000 deliveries. That means last month was second only to January 2004 for the marque, which was a best-ever year for F-150. General Motors’ 18% lift was driven by GMC, up 29% and Chevrolet's pickup truck, Silverado, seeing a 25% increase in sales.

Said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for AutoTrader.com, “January car and truck sales in the United States are coming in pretty much as analysts predicted, seemingly undeterred by blizzards that socked various parts of the country during the month. January vehicle sales are sounding the same refrain we heard in 2014 but with a crescendo -- sales of SUVs and pickup trucks are even stronger in the early going of 2015, as expected.”

She said the bigger story is that pickup truck sales track housing starts, “and housing starts are on the rise.” She said sales of cars remained mixed in January as they did in 2014, “due to consumers’ preference for sport utilities of all sizes and from all brands.”

Another bellwether for trucks and SUVs is the lift in transaction prices in January. Transaction prices are what people actually pay for their vehicles. It increases when incentives drop, and when people spend for add-ons and higher trim levels. It also means revenue. Kelley Blue Book says industry transaction prices are likely to hit 5.2% for the month, with GM and Ford leading. The former's transaction prices are up 8.2%, while Ford enjoys a 5.7% lift for January. 

The healthier numbers again point back to trucks and SUVs, which are generally more expensive than cars, and therefore raise a manufacturer's overall numbers. The average price customers paid for the F-150 last month increased by 7.5% versus last year, per the company. General Motors' average was just over $35,000 last year; last month it was $37,875. The industry average was $32,299 last year, and $33,993 last month. 

Said Krebs: “GM’s sales hike of 18% is largely thanks to Chevrolet and GMC having a gangbuster month due to robust sales of big sport utilities and pickup trucks, sales of which likely benefitted due to lower gas prices. Some GM utilities, including Cadillac Escalades, posted triple-digit sales increases from a year ago." She added that Chevrolet also got a boost from higher sales of compact cars.

More good news for GM: the early indications are that Chevrolet and GMC's new mid-size pickups are bringing in unique buyers who don't want full-size trucks. “The introduction of the all-new Colorado and Canyon midsize trucks doesn't appear to be cannibalizing sales of the Silverado and Sierra,” said Brauer, “as both full-size trucks made big gains in January.” And the new Trax crossover is set up to do well too, per KBB, which reports the Chevrolet compact crossover has become among the top 25 most-shopped vehicles on the site in recent weeks.