Last month’s sales were expected to pale next to August 2009 when dealers inventories were being stripped thanks to the federal government’s ‘cash for clunkers’ programme. The unpleasant surprise was they also suffered next to July 2010′s results.
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Wards reported 994,585 light vehicles were sold last month, down 265,411 from August 2009. Adjusting for daily sales rate (DSR), that’s a 17.9% drop. Sales volume fell by nearly 52,000 from July 2010, too, though DSR was up 2.6%. Despite incentives 9.2% higher than last year, unemployment, the housing slump and a grim consumer outlook kept buyers out of showrooms.
Small was out in August: small cars took the biggest hit; many models had deficits of 50% or more. Crossovers and small SUVs also disappointed; buyers opted for big cars, minivans and larger SUVs. Upscale brands, which weren’t generally eligible for the rebates, generally fared better a year later. Full-size pickups continued to buck the trend: all but the Toyota Tundra finished the month in the black.
GM sales fell 21.5%, but core brand sales declined only 6.6%. Gains at Buick, Cadillac and GMC were wiped out by an 18.2% tumble in sales of Chevrolet. GM’s retail sales were down 29% for the month and core brand sales were down 7.3% from July.
Ford sales fell 7.8% with both Ford and Mercury brands suffering from rebate payback time. Lincoln, whose vehicles weren’t covered under the cash for clunkers program, saw a 9.4% improvement. Ford’s August sales were down 6.6% compared to July. The F-series pickup was first to cross the 300,000 sales mark.
Chrysler, up 11.2%, was the only Detroit automaker to beat both its August 2009 and July 2010 numbers. Chrysler took 10% of the market in August after picking up 2.6 points of share.
After dancing to the money melody in 2009, Toyota paid the piper in 2010. Sales plunged 31.4% and market share fell three points. Honda reported a 30% hangover while Nissan reported a 24.1% shortfall.
The piper collected from the smaller Japanese automakers, too. Subaru’s streak of gains ended as sales fell 19.4%. Mazda missed its target by 22.7%, Mitsubishi was 34.5% short and Suzuki gave up 66.9% of last year’s sales.
The Korean winning streak came to an end last month. Hyundai Group missed its mark by 11.1% as sales of small cars dropped like rocks.
Europe was a mixed bag; most models are upscale vehicles that didn’t qualify for government bucks. BMW was up 2.4%; Daimler enjoyed an 11.7% boost and Porsche sales zoomed 38.5%. Thanks to Audi, Volkswagen sales rose 1.3%. Tata’s Jaguar and Land Rover finished ahead of last year. Volvo made its debut as a Chinese brand by joining Saab in reporting slower sales.
Barring an economic miracle (or another rebate programme), it’s looking like 2010 sales will come up short of the hoped for 12m. It looks like it will be another year before auto sales begin to make a solid recovery.
