Good Signs for Houston Texas Real Estate - Houston auto dealers shift to higher gear

The picture seems to be brightening for Houston-area automobile dealers.

March 2010 sales for dealers in the 10-county Houston region were up 25.7 percent compared with the same time last year.

And those March sales were up 20.6 percent over February, according to TexAuto Facts Report, which tracks new-vehicle sales in the area.

“Things are definitely better,” said Steve McDowell, owner of InfoNation, publisher of TexAuto Facts Report.

Sales have been increasing month after month, which shows consistency, he said.

Nationally, sales increased 24 percent for March 2010 compared with the year before.

Fleet sales, primarily rental cars and third-party leases, were “unusually high” in March and a big reason why sales increased dramatically, McDowell said.

“I'd like to see retail sales pick up more,” because retail sales are “the core of new-vehicle sales profits,” he said.

“We are encouraged by the March sales and are optimistic that this trend will continue,” said Wyatt Wainwright, president of the Houston Automobile Dealers Association.

Among the brands showing increases in sales in the Houston area for the first quarter of 2010, compared with the same time in 2009, were Hyundai Group, up 59.6 percent; Ford Motor Co., up 33.4 percent; Volkswagen Group, up 26.9 percent, and General Motors Co., up 22.7 percent.

At North Freeway Hyundai, business is “going very well,” sales manager Chris Thomas said. The Tucson SUV and Sonata family sedan have been “game changers,” he said.

Chrysler Group's retail market share year-to-date fell from 10.1 percent to 6 percent.

Domestic brands saw a slight increase in total market share, to 48 percent, a 2 percent increase over last year. That increase reverses a 12-year trend in which domestics had been losing market share, McDowell noted.

david.kaplan@chron.com

nancy@callnancyfurst.com