When was the last time that you saw Ford having a better month than either Toyota or Honda, at least in terms of sales loss percentages?
"I've been in the industry nearly 28 years and never have seen anything even remotely close to this," states Mark LaNeve, GM's North American vice president of sales. "It's breathtaking."
It just gets uglier every month, and one has to wonder how much worse will it get? Oh wait... Domestic Motors and Congress have yet to do their second Doe-See-Doe. It could get much worse folks...
Here's AutoObserver's take: Funereal November Sales Provide More Ammo for Bailout Plea
Here's Inside Line's take: November Auto Sales Continue Their Death Spiral, With No End in Sight
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Nissan's drop came as a big surprise.
I was wondering when luxury nameplates would start to suffer. I guess managers are hurting, too.
I'm not convinced of this "pent-up demand". While I'm sure there are folks out there that would otherwise be buying a car, few people actually need a new car. I think everything will be on hold for the remainder of the recession. Once people aren't worried about their jobs, they'll start wandering into showrooms.
Keep in mind they are just comparing Nov. 07 to Nov. 08. It's just one data point. Nissan may have had a good month last year, when the Rogue came out.
Complaining about low cars sales in the middle of a bad slowdown is pointless.
Of course sales are down. Just like house sales, few people will want to make a major purchase when they aren't sure about the future.
However the cars they do have we keep getting older and that just means a bigger jump in sales when people are satisfied things are on the upswing.
I'm old enough to have seen several of these boom/bust cycles and it's the same way everytime.
On the boom people think it will never end and on the bust they think it's the end of the world.
Just ride it out and stop the endless doom and gloom media coverage.
Boom and bust, yes that's correct. Be very wary when you hear the words "ever" or "never."
Mark LeNeve: "I've been in the industry nearly 28 years and never have seen anything even remotely close to this."
Oh yeah? The 1980-82 recession was pretty bad, and this was reflected in poor auto sales, with Chrysler almost going bankrupt, Ford losing money for 3 years straight if I recall, and even GM losing money in '80.
GM also didn't fare so well in the 1991-92 recession, when it lost boatloads of money and the board sacked its then-CEO.
Reminds me of something else too. Every time there's an economic downturn we go through this "Is it a recession or not" nonsense that drags on for months before it becomes "official."
One more thing -- recall that halcyon year of 1999 before Bush, the Iraq war, and 9/11, when some declared the US economy had become "recession-proof."