Cadillac ATS Sales Down, Down, Down, Down Some More?

The Cadillac ATS’s launch in the fourth-quarter of 2012 was the most important for the Cadillac brand since whatever Cadillac’s previous most important launch was.

But very early on, Cadillac simply wasn’t selling as many as they wanted to. Sales weren’t terribly low – Cadillac averaged 3,200 U.S. ATS sales in calendar year 2013, but incentivization kicked in early. After peaking at 3,887 units in December 2013, sales have decreased on a year-over-year basis in 14 of 15 months, including in each of the last eleven months.

Only a two-unit, 0.07% uptick in April 2014 interrupted what would otherwise be a streak of decreases stretching back to the beginning of last year.

So here’s the question: with April sales results set to be released tomorrow, will the Cadillac ATS’s sales stats display a full year of year-over-year monthly declines?

Here’s what needs to happen for Cadillac to avoid that outcome: Cadillac sold 2737 ATS sedans in April 2014 and therefore needs to top that figure in April 2015.

Cadillac has only topped that figure once since last April, and only barely, with 2,804 August sales.

Moreover, sales in March totalled just 2,039 units, and the market for new vehicles is likely to be somewhat smaller in April than it was in March.

The ATS’s year-over-year declines have been particularly harsh of late: 34% in November, 37% in December, 8% in January, 16% in February, and 32% in March. Year-to-date, ATS sales are down 20%, a loss of 1,494 units. Joining the ATS in the Cadillac slowdown is the CTS, sales of which tumbled 39.5% in the first-quarter.

Granted, the U.S. passenger car market isn’t in rude health. Sales of cars are slightly south of flat over the last three months and expanded less than 2% in 2014, a year in which the overall industry made 6% gains. ATS sales fell 22% in 2014, the nameplate’s second full year.

Yet despite negative growth in the car market, BMW car volume is up 28% ( 3-Series/4-Series sales are up 27%); car sales at Mercedes-Benz are up 2% (C-Class sales are up 23%). Acura, Audi, Infiniti, and Lexus have posted 6%, 8%, 10%, and 4% improvements, respectively.

Coupes and V models will expand the appeal of the ATS range, but they don’t cure the ATS’s key faults. The small rear seat and CUE system continue.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar.