Posted on 04/19/2009 3:55:41 PM PDT by Son House
Was there anything good about the quarter? Since we're grasping at straws, lets note that February's sales were better than January and March's was better than February's. But, that's happened every year since 1991. Aside from that, the quarter was awful.
Sales declined 38.4%, and that followed a 8% dip in the first quarter of 2008. The Detroit 3's domestic sales fell an astounding 46.2%. Import brand sales were down 30.6%--not as bad as Detroit's but not good.
GM was the sickest of the sick in the first quarter, down 48.8%. Toyota led the Japanese in futility with a loss of 37.1%.
The Detroit 3 still haven't returned to the car business. They sold only 345,755 cars in three months, down 49.4% from 2008. Even more distressing, Detroit had only 30.2% of the nation's car sales in the quarter.
Market share? You don't want to know. The Detroit 3 had only 43.8% of U.S. cars and light-truck sales in the quarter...Remember when GM alone had over 50% of the market?
Bad as the quarter was for the D 3, they still hold the top two spots in sales. At the top of the heap, as it has been for more than 30 years, was the Ford F-Series truck. The Chevrolet Silverado pickup was second, a far distant second.
That's the good news. The bad news is that the year-ago sales numbers for the two trucks were a total of 270,917, this year, 148,862, a drop of 44.9%.
GM was the leading seller of cars and trucks in the U.S. in the first quarter with a lead of 50,031 over Toyota, which moved ahead of Ford to take second place. Last year GM led Toyota by 228,629 at this point.
(Excerpt) Read more at glgroup.com ...
Who is spending right now? We are waiting for all the new carbon taxes that will drive energy up.
Another insight into the medium and heavy truck sales;
Truck dealers banking on parts and service
http://fleetowner.com/management/truck-dealers-parts-services-0409/
“Our new truck sales are down, compared to typical years, because of this depressed economy,” Brad Wilson, president of Sioux City Truck Sales, Inc., told FleetOwner. “[But] our parts and service business is helping us survive. Our dealerships are also seeing increasing business from other than traditional [long-haul] trucking companies, such as private carriers plus vocational customers in manufacturing, distribution, and refuse collection. They are a growing segment of our customer base.”
“This is a sign that our customers are running their vehicles longer and must spend more on parts and maintenance.”
“With heavy-truck sales in decline, [we must] focus on tackling a ‘crisis of confidence’ in truck retailing that is making it difficult for some new-truck dealers to sustain daily operations,” he said in comments released ahead of the ATD annual convention in Washington, D.C. “The number-one1 issue right now is lack of consumer and corporate confidence,” he noted. “
I noticed today, that the major dealers’ used car lots have thinned.
Worse
““This is a sign that our customers are running their vehicles longer and must spend more on parts and maintenance.””
Well, demand is building up and eventually those who need or want full sized trucks or suv’s will buy them. The question is; what brands will they buy?
Yeah and when Obama gets his rail system running, it might get worse - maybe that’s his evil plan (I’m being somewhat sarcastic but not totally).
You can only hold out long - cars don’t last forever.
It’s always darkest before the dawn.
Ah yes, the only spending being done is on parts, no wonder GM is not selling AC Delco after all;
General Motors won’t sell ACDelco after all
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2009/04/general_motors_wont_sell_acdel.html
“It’s a highly profitable business for us. It’s creating good, strong cash flow,” GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said in a conference call Friday. “Our conclusion was that we weren’t going to get the value for the business. We’d rather keep it and grow it.”
GM announced last October that it was exploring a sale of ACDelco as part of a broader effort to sell billions in assets.
In addition to the ACDelco business, GM previously announced it was exploring the sale of its Hummer brand and its technical and manufacturing center in Strasbourg, France.
This will take someone's lifetime to build...with cost overruns in the billions...if not trillions.
Bet the farm on it!!!
I was looking for data on truck sales because the local car lots are sticking all the trucks in the front rows, and little is selling. The Democrat’s economic and energy policies are ruining the automobile business.
Have you seen any info on the number of dealerships that have gone out of business or merged with another one? I know of two major dealerships in the Houston area that have gone out of business and a 3rd that has been bought out by another dealership.
True, but as many people are rediscovering, they last a heck of a lot longer than the 3-4 year lease period after which many used to replace their cars.
It's pretty doggone dark before the storm also. And given that we have a socialist government, I sense storm.
Eventually, the iron will wear out.
Folks will need to replace their vehicles.
The only question:will people buy cars made by Big Union?
But sometimes it gets darkest..........just before the lights go totally out.
I am quite proud to say that I have never once purchased any union-made vehicle. I love my country too much to put my hard-earned cash into the coffers of the anti-conservative UAW.
Oh and I don't want to buy a poorly made piece of junk either.
I keep cars for 10 years. My Jeep just hit its 11 year and is going strong.
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