August Car Sales Numbers: The Pain Continues
I've gone through the lastest car sales numbers from August and I'd like to say it's a "mixed bag" or that things are "looking up" but, really, it's just plain painful.
Here are the lowlights? from the Big 6:
Chrysler down 34% in August and 24% year-to-date (YTD)
Note: Sold only 1,742 more units than Nissan in August
Ford down 26.6% in August and 15.8% YTD
Note: Worst month on record for Lincoln and Volvo
GM down 20.4% in August and 18.3% YTD
Note: Aveo down 21.3% in August and 1.8% YTD (in a year when small car sales are way up)
Honda down 7.3% in August but up 1.2% YTD (best YTD growth in industry)
Note: Acura division down 8.2% in August and down 13.9% YTD
Nissan up 13.6% in August and 1% YTD
Note: Several Nissan vehicles posted increases in August, but they came from heavy incentive spending
Toyota down 9.4% in August and 8.3% YTD
Note: Worst August for Toyota since 2005
- Posted by
- Karl Brauer September 5, 2008, 6:00 AM
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- Automotive News, Domestic Manufacturers Problems/Challenges
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- August Car Sales
Chrysler (or Cerberus) just ought to throw in the towel. It's over for them as far as I'm concerned.
Why make such a big deal about this? What did car sales do last time there was a recession?
Big ticket items are always the first thing to suffer when people are worried about the economic future. It's the same every time but people always treat it with doom and gloom.
Just watch... by next spring there will be lots of positive indicators in the market and people will be talking about recovery..... and car sales will be up across the board.
Where's BMW? With Mini they're up. Mini as a brand is up 20+%.
In a way, Chrysler's dealers are their biggest enemy in all of this - with sales like they are, they still have a multitude of Dodge dealers asking upwards of $10,000 over sticker for a new Challenger - they've managed to find a few gotta-be-the-first-on-my-block-to-have-one suckers, but this surely can't be helping their bottom line one bit. It's too bad Chrysler doesn't have better checks-and-balances for their dealers.
glad you noted Nissan's caveat. I consider them down as well since they DEEPLY discounted vehicles to move product.
I have heard people buying new Xterras for $16,000. That is nearly 50% off!
Tremendous time for new car buyers to get incredible deals
"Just watch... by next spring there will be lots of positive indicators in the market and people will be talking about recovery..... and car sales will be up across the board."
And whoever is elected president in the US will claim the recovery as a success for his administration. :P
"And whoever is elected president...."
LOL .... and I thought that only happened here in Canada.
Ford Ranger is up in August.
I'm surprised to see Honda down so much. Wasn't the Civic the best selling car in America last month?
I wonder if they comparing August to July or August 08 to August 07?
As for Honda being down, I bet they are running out of cars to sell. I have a friend who works for Honda and they have waiting list for all versions of Civics and Fits. He could sell far more cars but he can't get them.
Maybe that's why Nissan is up. Honda, Mazda and Toyota are running out of small cars and Nissan is last choice for a decent small car.
How can Honda's 1.2% YTD increase be the industry best when Subaru's YTD increase is 6%?
"I'm surprised to see Honda down so much. Wasn't the Civic the best selling car in America last month?"
No. The civic had the lead for one month. Camry was best seller as usual. The Silverado was best selling overall with over 56k units.