A big monthly sales increase looks great in an OEM press release.

But not every sale has the same long-term value.

Large rental and fleet orders can quickly increase an automaker's reported volume, keep factories running and move inventory. They can also put large numbers of nearly identical vehicles back into the used market, pressure residual values and potentially weaken brand perception.

Nissan has explicitly moved away from its former volume-at-all-costs strategy and says it wants to prioritize dealer retail rather than relying heavily on rental fleet business.

That raises a broader question.

Should the industry pay more attention to retail share than total market share?

If one manufacturer grows 8% because retail demand is improving while another grows 12% because thousands of vehicles went to rental companies, those probably should not be viewed as equivalent results.

For dealers, the downstream effects can eventually show up in trade values, CPO pricing and new-car gross.

Should OEMs report retail and fleet sales separately?