It was another bad month for the domestic and foreign auto makers:
DETROIT — New vehicle sales in the United States still have not hit the bottom of the freefall that began in late 2007, and results being released Tuesday showed a considerable decline in February after the market appeared to be stabilizing, despite some of the biggest discounts ever offered.
The three largest automakers, including Toyota, each said their sales declined at least 40 percent from February 2008.
Sales were down 53 percent at General Motors, 48 percent at the Ford Motor Company and 40 percent at Toyota. Chrysler sales fell 44 percent.
Honda reported a 38 percent drop, while Nissan said its sales fell 37 percent.
“The February numbers are clearly a step down from where we’d been running the last four months,” said Michael C. DiGiovanni, G.M.’s chief sales analyst. “It’s unsettling to our business. These are obviously unsustainable levels which are causing almost every auto manufacturer across the world to look for government aid.”
As the article indicates, the fact that sales were down at the foreign auto manufacturers as well as the Detroit Big Three indicates that this is about more than just the problems America’s auto makers are experiencing, and it probably means that this isn’t over yet.
Which prompts me to take us all on a trip on the Wayback Machine back to October 9, 2008:
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Retail sales in the U.S. auto industry this year are tracking to come in 2 million units below 2007 results, as beleaguered consumers are keeping their vehicles about 4 months longer, according to a report from J.D. Power and Associates on Thursday. The forecasting and research firm is looking for retail sales, with reduced leasing activity another headwind, to fall to 10.8 million cars and trucks, down from 12.8 million in 2007. As for total new light-vehicle sales in the U.S., J.D. Power is targeting 13.6 cars and trucks sold this year, down 16% from 16.1 million a year ago. The firm now sees 2009 sales dropping to 13.2 million vehicles. A J.D. Power analyst also said that the global auto market “may experience an outright collapse” in 2009
I did call it one of “Next Year’s Headlines Today,” didn’t I ?
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:28 pm
According to Consumer Reports, not one Big Three car made their top 10 Value cars. I think that we have found a reason for the declining sales…