U.S. Auto Sales Weak; Toyota Sales Drop 41%

123jump.com Staff
04 Jun, 2009
New York City

U.S. auto sale rebounded from April confirming seasonal trend and are likely to dip again in June and the rest of the year. For the year auto sales are expected to stay below 10 million, a level at which none of the automakers are expected to be profitable.

[R]8:30 AM New York – U.S. auto sale rebounded from April confirming seasonal trend and are likely to dip again in June and the rest of the year. For the year auto sales are expected to stay below 10 million, a level at which none of the automakers are expected to be profitable.[/R]

The auto sales in May rebounded from the weakest sales in February and still below 10 million units. Despite the rising consumer confidence and a sharp rebound in the stock markets auto sales have been sluggish.

May and April months are generally the best months in a year and judging from the history sales for the rest of the year may be anemic.

123jump.com has left its annual sales estimate unchanged between 9 million and 9.5 million. Toyota sales are likely to lag Ford sales for the rest of the year and Korean automakers are expected to gain market share from Japan, GM and Chrysler.

For the first five months, total light vehicle sales declined 36.5% to 3.949 million, passenger car sales dropped 36.5% to 2.024 million and light truck sales fell 36.6% to 1.925 million.

The monthly data are released by the industry research organization Autodata Corp based in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

In May, total light vehicle sales declined 33.7% to 920,000 from 1.397 million a year ago period. Passenger car sales in the month declined 38.6% to 488,000 and light truck sales dropped 27.2% to 438,000.

Of the twenty manufacturers not a single maker managed to increase sales in the months of May and April.

Hyundai and Subaru managed to sell more cars in the first quarter also registered declines in May. Only, Rolls Royce managed to increase its sales by 23.8% to 26 cars but declined for the year and Isuzu sales fell to zero in May and declined 95% for the year.

For the year Isuzu led decliners with a sales plunge of 94.5% and the three auto makers with the smallest declines for the year were Subaru with 1.8%, Kia Motors with 6.8% and Hyundai Motor America with 7.9%.

Total annualized sales increased to 9.91 million units from 9.32 million in April and plunged from 14.26 million in May 2008.

Ford Sales Fall Less than GM and Chrysler

General Motors ((GM)) sales declined 29.0% to 190,881 from 268,892 in May a year ago. Sales for the five months fell 41.8% to 772,733 from 1,326,906. Sales of light vehicles for the year fell 20.8% to 1.10 million from 1.39 million.

Ford Motor Company ((F)) sales plunged 24.1% to 161,197 from 212,508 vehicles a year ago. First five months sales declined 36.8% to 618,369 from 977,746 compared to a year ago period. Truck sales in the month declined 23.3% to 94,000 from 122,631. Sales for Volvo fell 22.9% to 5,577 compared to 7,238 a year ago. In May, Fusion sales totaled 19,786.

Ford sales perked up from April and were the highest since July of 2008.

Chrysler LLC sales declined 46.9% to 79,010 vehicles from 148,747 vehicles. For the year, sales fell 46.3% to 402,900 from 750,369. Total car sales declined 56.7% to 18,038 from 41,678 a year ago and light truck sales fell 43.1% to 60,972 from 107,069 vehicles.

Toyota Sales Lag Ford, Second Time This Year

Toyota Motor sales in May declined 40.7% to 152,583 units from 257,406 units in the same period a year earlier. Sales for the first five months fell 39.0% to 638,795 from 1,046,854. Sales of the cars fell 42.8% to 96,650 units from 168,942 units and light trucks fell 36.8% to 55,933 units from 88,464 a year ago.

Honda sales in the month plummeted 41.5% to 98,344 units from 167,997 units a year ago. For the year, sales declined 34.4% to 4.30 million from 6.56 million. Sales of cars in the month fell 49.5% to 57,957 units from 114,796 units and sales of the light trucks declined 24.1% to 40,387 units compared to 53,201 a year ago.

Nissan Motor Company vehicles sales in the month decreased 33.1% to 67,489 units from 100,874 units a year ago. May cars and light trucks sales declined 39.8% and 17.2% respectively from a year ago.

Mitsubishi Motors vehicles May sales decreased 58.3% to 4,352 units compared to 10,430 units in the month a year ago.

Sales for Mazda tumbled 40.1% to 16,718 units compared to 27,921 units in the year ago and Isuzu Motors failed to sell a single vehicle compared to 510 in the month a year ago.

Korean Auto Sales Surpass European

Volkswagen Group of America Inc sales declined 12.6% to 27,251 from 31,197 a year ago. Vehicles branded Audi unit sales declined 12.1%, Volkswagen fell 12.4% and Bentley sales decreased to 36.7%.

Mercedes-Benz USA unit sales in the month fell 33.4% to 16,310 from a year ago. Sales of Maybach fell 66.7% to only 3 units, sales of the Smart fell 56.6% to 1,169 units from 2,695 units a year ago.

BMW of North America Inc sales in the month fell 27.6% to 23,019 units compared with 31,802 vehicles in the month of last year. Sales of Rolls Royce fell 23.8% to 26 units from 31 units a year ago.

Jaguar Land Rover N.A. LLC, owned by India based Tata Motors Limited, unit sales decreased 28.8% to 3,391 from 4,760 a year ago. Sales of Land Rover fell 26.0% to 2,223 units from 3,003 units.

The combined sales of Kia Motors and Hyundai Motor surpassed the total sales of Daimler, Volkswagen, Porsche and BMW.