GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda Say U.S. Sales Fell in July (Update5)
Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. said U.S. sales plunged 22 percent in July as Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG also posted declines.
Ford's 19 percent slide marked the ninth consecutive drop for the No. 2 U.S. automaker. Toyota said sales were down 7.3 percent, and Honda sold 7.1 percent fewer vehicles than a year earlier. DaimlerChrysler sales slid 9.1 percent. Nissan Motor Co. said sales rose 1.7 percent.
Toyota's results moved the company closer to overtaking Ford in U.S. sales, and Honda outsold the Chrysler brand. The Asian companies have been helped by their focus on cars, while U.S. automakers have been hurt by lower sales for fuel-thirsty trucks.
``The market has softened and softened substantially over the last six months,'' Dennis Virag, president of Automotive Consulting Group in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said in an interview. Rising fuel prices are helping Asian automakers and hurting U.S. companies, which are starting to ``suffer badly.''
With gasoline near $3 a gallon, demand is waning for the light trucks that account for more than 65 percent of vehicle sales at U.S.-based automakers. Their Asian rivals are more focused on cars.
Ford, GM
GM's sales total fell to 315,870 from 406,298, a year earlier. None of Detroit-based GM's eight brands posted a U.S. sales gain during July.
Ford's July results included an 18 percent slide in sales of F-Series pickups, the top-selling line of vehicles in the U.S. Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford sold 56,488 F-Series trucks last month.
The only Ford brand to record a sales gain was U.K.-based Land Rover, which had a 19 percent increase to 4,189 vehicles. Ford said last month it probably will sell Land Rover and U.K.- based Jaguar.
Ford is clinging to its No. 2 spot in the U.S., with a lead over Toyota of 39,558 vehicles through June, down from a margin of 319,208 a year earlier.
Nissan, Toyota, Honda
The July sales increase for Tokyo-based Nissan was led by the midsize Altima and compact Versa cars, Bill Bosley, North American vice president of sales, said in an interview.
Toyota's decline was led by lower sales of Corolla, Yaris and Scion small cars and light trucks including the Sienna minivan and all the Toyota City, Japan-based company's sport- utility vehicles except for the compact RAV4 model, according to Toyota data.
At Honda, fifth in the U.S. market, higher sales of Fit, Civic and Accord cars and CR-V wagons failed to offset declines for Pilot and Element SUVs and Odyssey minivans, according to sales figures e-mailed by the Tokyo-based company's U.S. unit.
The Asian brands together captured 42.7 percent of the U.S. market in June, topping the 42.1 percent record set in January. For the first six months, U.S. automakers' share of their home market slid to 51.9 percent from 53.7 percent a year earlier.
Industrywide sales probably fell 7 percent to an annual rate of 16 million, according to a Bloomberg survey of seven analysts and 22 economists.
The industry's slide in U.S. sales comes after all three domestic automakers lost money last year.
GM cut its loss to $1.98 billion from $10.4 billion in 2005, while Ford lost a record $12.6 billion. Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler lost $680 million, and DaimlerChrysler is selling an 80.1 percent stake in the U.S. automaker to Cerberus Capital Management LP.
July had 24 selling days, one fewer than a year earlier. The analysts' estimates for GM, Ford and Chrysler adjust for the difference. Bloomberg and some automakers use unadjusted percentage comparisons, which would be about 4 points lower.
To contact the reporters on this story: Bill Koenig in Southfield, Michigan at wkoenig@bloomberg.net ; Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.net .
Looks like a sinking economy in the U.S. is sinking all boats.
Adjusted for fewer selling days, toyota is down 3.5%. Not sure about the others.
Fan
Last edited by toyotafanfan; 08-01-2007 at 01:19 PM.
Yes, it's big drop for the Corolla, but keep in mind as Rav4evr said we get a new Corolla in a few months. Part of the drop is likely due to factories re-tooling and prepping to produce the new model. As for the Yaris, the car is sold worldwide and is a popular car all over the world. Sales could be production limited.
The Corolla in its current form is a great car. Had the chance to drive an '06 CE the other day and was very impressed. However, the main reason for this car not selling as well is due to the new Civic being on the market, as well as the other cars it's competing against. When the new models arrive, i'm sure the sales will shoot back up. Also, the new Highlander is out and the sales on that model are sure to rise. The Yaris, while a nice little car, IMO has too little features and too high price to compete with the Fit and Versa.
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I traded my Camry for a Caddy...
Thats to be expected since the Corolla is basically been the same since 2002, its outdated compared to its newer rivals.
Yeah, Mazda is taking BIG advantage of that in their car commercials for the Speed3. I kind of find it funny, they talk about how great their car is compared to the Toyota Corolla. Wholey Hell, someone call Batman! Mazda managed to beat a 6 year old car! Arent they amazing? I think they should talk smack about the civic. That would make me happy.
IDK why, but i never really liked Honda. Not that they arent good cars, i just always liked Toyota better. To this day, my top three choices car wise go like this:
3. Mazda
2. Toyota
1. Hyundai
yeah thats right! i said Hyundai! Great cars! just as good if not better than a Toyota in ALL areas, but for a LOT less. Them Koreans know how to build one helluva car!
Sorry for going ...
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sales so far this year compared to 06 show corolla down only 3.5% still not too bad for the 6th year of production.also in may and june dealers were unloading the last of thier 07s to make room for the 08s that were coming.the other thing that hurt corolla was the yaris it was up 65% over july of 06.the scion xd may further erode the current corollas sales.
Last edited by middleoroad; 08-04-2007 at 08:35 PM.
sales so far this year compared to 06 show corolla down only 3.5% still not too bad for the 6th year of production.also in may and june dealers were unloading the last of thier 07s to make room for the 08s that were coming.the other thing that hurt corolla was the yaris it was up 65% over july of 06.the scion xd may further erode the current corollas sales.
the bloomberg article states that GM had 50% of the domestic market in 1962.now the asian brands hold 44%.the american brands had better come up with something radical soon or it might be too late.
Last edited by middleoroad; 08-19-2007 at 08:56 PM.
This may be far fetched....but do you guys think it can be the ugly factor?
Silverado, Civic, Xterra, Sentra, Yukon, Tundra, all Jeep products....all of the newer models are uglier than it's predessesor.
It's kind of scary to think what future cars will look like.
I am sure its' not the reason, but it's just what I have noticed. The wife and I are thinking of replacing the high mileage Trailblazer and we noticed that there are no nice looking choices for replacement.
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Aller des Saints et les Tigres de LSU. Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez! Aller. Combat. Gagner. Fierté acadien!!!!
2006 Toyota Prius (Trailblazer was totaled on 12/10/07....RIP)
2007 Chevrolet Silverado Z71 4x4- My toy.
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