October Sales Results for top 10 Car Manufacturers

[xpeed]

As you know, GM and Ford are declining in sales lately, mainly because most of their lineups, or "bread and butter" profits are their trucks and SUVs. The results are not a surprise but for Toyota, things are looking up.

The main reason why GM and Ford are hit the hardest is because of their previous end-of-summer employee discounts, hurricanes, and the rise of gasoline prices. GM and Ford mainly makes their profit during the late fall season, where their sales peak during October, but because of their promotion of their employee discounts, it hurt their sales during the peak season.

These are the results for this year and the percentage shown are compared from October in 2004.

Companies | Vehicles Sold | Percentage Change from October 2004

General Motors 252,207 / -25.6%

Ford Motors 184,493 / -26.1%

Toyota Motor 173,086 / +1.3%

DaimlerChrysler 164,814 / -3.1%

Honda 110,895 / +0.4%

Nissan 72,279 / -16.5%

Hyundai 29,413 / -11.2%

BMW 22,432 / -0.8%

Kia Motors 20,631 / -10.2%

Mazda Motors 19,505 / -8.3%

source, Associated Press/Los Angeles Times, November 2, 2005

[Cyorke]

Pretty scary taht only two out of the top ten manufacturers had increases over last year.

[Bakemono]

Coincidentelly, they are also #1 and #2 in average fuel economy.
Cap'n

[HoboJoe]

^Yeah. But they also have superior build quality. Hyundai has good quality in their new sonota I heard, but people are probably still a bit nervous to get a Hyundai until it's tried and true.

[84Cressida]

I actually heard that the U.S. built Sonatas are having some quality problems.

[HoboJoe]

^Really? Well, all I heard was what was on Car and Driver some time ago.

[epinionator89]

Originally Posted by 84Cressida

I actually heard that the U.S. built Sonatas are having some quality problems.

As with all new plants, there are bound to be a few minor issues because of 1) new workers, 2) new techology and 3) new or facelifted vehicles. That is with any company, so it shouldn't be a surprise if the Sonata has a couple minor issues. It doesn't make me think less of it, though. Do you have a link to information that actually says they are having quality problems?

Edit: OK, there is one recall involving the driver's seat belt which might tangle up with the knob that adjusts the seat's height, but 36,000 Hyundai vehicles compared to 800,000 GM vehicles that have corroding ABS systems--which one is less of a safety issue?

On topic: 1.3%, eh? Sounds good.