Posted on 01/05/2009 10:35:30 AM PST by traumer
DETROIT (AP) -- Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales plummeted 32 percent in December and Toyota Motor Corp.'s fell 37 percent as car and truck buyers continued to steer clear of showrooms due to the dismal economy. Unsold 2009 Focus sedans sit at a Ford dealership in Denver on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009. Ford Motor Company said Monday, that sales dropped 32 percent in December.
Ford's sales for 2008 fell 21 percent from a year earlier, keeping the Dearborn automaker in third place in the U.S. auto sales race, falling behind Japan's Toyota for the second straight year.
Toyota's 2008 sales fell 16 percent to 2.22 million, compared with Ford's 1.98 million.
Other automakers are to report U.S. sales for December and the full year later Monday, and analysts expect an industrywide drop of up to 40 percent as consumers remain uncertain about the economy and their jobs.
Ford said Monday it sold 138,458 light vehicles last month, down from 204,787 in December 2007. But even though its sales were dismal, Ford said it expects to fare better than the industry overall.
The auto Web site Edmunds.com predicted sales for the full year will total just over 13 million, down 18 percent from 2007 and the lowest level since 1992.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
With the doom and gloom media, it is amazing there is any economic activity at all.
Bingo! We have a winner!
Funny I thought they were cheerleaders and people who said bad things were coming were vilified.
IIRC, that is happening now.
Well, this could be good news. My Camry lease is up this year and I am hoping for a better deal.
BTW, my better half forced me to do a little post-Xmas shopping. IMO, the price reductions were less than I expected, so we purchased very little. There will be a lot of buyers when the price is in the right range.
The #1 take-away from these stats for people should be this:
The problem with Detroit is NOT that they “build cars that people don’t want to buy.”
The fact that Toyota’s sales are so far off is a clear indication that the US consumer is tapped out. They’re not only not buying domestic cars, they’re not buying foreign cars.
Ergo, throwing money at Detroit to build some new ideal of car ain’t going to bail their butts out of the current mess. If consumers aren’t buying and there is a huge surplus of car production capacity in the world, someone is going to have to go out of business to remove the surplus capacity. The guys who can last the longest in this downturn are the guys with the most cash.
And that’s clearly not Detroit.
Me too! ;-)
When we had close to 8% GDP growth and 4.1% unemployment under Bush the media played it like the Second Depression. Well now they got what they asked for!
We got a very nice deal on a 2008 Toyota Highlander last week. I’m sure if we could have waited a week or two, we could have gotten a better deal. But it was a chance we had to take, especially since my previous car had been totaled.
Ford has positioned itself for a surge in late 2009 and going forward. They have a lot of nice products in the pipeline and were ahead of the curve in their restructuring the past few years. They will also benefit greatly from the revised labor and bond holder deals that GM and Chrysler have to take the lead on due to their federal loans.
Since I try and do all my repairs, just because, I keep everything in running order. Not so much the body, which is now seagull hell colored -- Yes, I just gave up on trying to keep them away ... LOL.
It's not just that the U.S. consumer is "tapped out." Most U.S. consumers also don't need a new car right now -- and probably for the foreseeable future. The automakers (all of them, not just the Big Three, as you pointed out) are reaping what they sowed over the last few years -- when they provided all kinds of incentives for people to buy new cars back then.
I got a great deal on my new truck in late 2006. I'm really hoping I won't need another one until 2016!
I just came from the Chrysler dealer parts shop. The glass in the passenger side mirror of my ‘04 Sebring convertible got broken. All I need is the glass. They can only sell me the entire mirror assembly - for $150. Let them go bankrupt on their own. They must think we’re stupid.
If the information I’ve seen is any indication, Ford’s new F-150 is also one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal vehicle sales climate these days.
I don’t see Toyota asking for a handout though.
The problem with Detroit is the UAW, primarily. The federal government runs a close second though their inept policies mostly affect all car makers.
The fact that Toyota’s sales are so far off is a clear indication that the US consumer is tapped out. They’re not only not buying domestic cars, they’re not buying foreign cars.
The consumer's been tapped out. Now, the credit is running dry, and the government is frantically trying to borrow future tax dollars to prop up the overextended credit market. Essentially borrowing to pay off previous borrowing, which is only serving to delay the inevitable.
I try to make extra payments to get rid of the loan.
Anyone that used their house for equity for a car is just plain "silly" (I'm being nice).
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