August Auto Sales Up as Expected

As expected C4C goosed auto industry sales in August. Sales in that month equate to a seasonally adjusted rate of around 14 million. That actually is at the lower end of the boost that was expected. Some have raised their expectations of full-year sales from a shade below 10 million units to 10 million or a bit above.

Here are some of the individual manufacturers’ results. Note all figures compare August 2008 with August 2009.

Ford (F) +17%

GM -20%

Chrysler -15%

Hyundai (HYMLF.PK) +47%

Honda (HMC) +10%

Toyota (TM) +6%

Nissan (NSANY) -3%

The industry contends that the results misrepresent the strength August. They say that August of last year was a particularly strong month and that makes the YOY comparison look weaker. I’ll take them at their word but the real test is going to be the rest of the year. How much future demand did C4C steal is the question.

Comments

[Jeff B.:]

American taxpayers got the biggest clunker (Chrysler) for our "cash" (tax dollars) -- with a zero chance of survival.

Sep 02 12:25 PM

[jeffwest81:]

I think this program will make the next several months sales drop tremendously. We are going to see some very LOW months following this. No one really wants to make a purchase right now if they don't have to. Things are still way to shaky. These programs have the potential to cause more harm than good.

People who didn't have a vehicle to trade in should be thinking about how it feels to use their money to put a down payment on a strangers car. I don't like it. Now they are talking about doing a similar program for appliances! QUIT IT!

Sep 02 12:40 PM

[working at ...:]

The real trouble may come when lawmakers begin to alk of starting the program up again in a few months after the manufactures get the lots restocked. Remember after 9-11 when the car co started 0% fin. Now its almost common practice to get low fin and big rebates. If the consumer feels that the gov. or car co. are willing to put up some cash to spur sales fig.Then they wait it out until the deal gets right.

Sep 02 12:52 PM

[cynnatalie2000:]

Chrysler is not only a clunker, but the subsidies to Chrysler place FORD in jeopardy and make it much harder for the other two companies that comprise the Detroit 3.

Sep 02 01:44 PM

[Ricard:]

Ford's real problem is not Big Three competition - it's overseas companies that are taking the biggest bite. It's not as if the Big Three didn't have competitive fuel-economy vehicles out there, but the cheapest manufacturer of them all (Hyundai) took a huge bite out of C4C growth. I don't think any number of subsidies will lower the bar enough for Chrysler to compete against Hyundai, much less Ford.


On Sep 02 01:44 PM cynnatalie2000 wrote:

> Chrysler is not only a clunker, but the subsidies to Chrysler place
> FORD in jeopardy and make it much harder for the other two companies
> that comprise the Detroit 3.

Sep 02 03:21 PM

[cynnatalie2000:]

Chrysler fell to 7th place in August, but the huge surprise was that FORD is about to fall into 4th place.

Honda may passit by the end of the year in monthly sales in the US.

Sep 02 09:53 PM