|
DETROIT - You've heard about the Hyundai Assurance Program, the one that guarantees the South Korean company will buy back your new car if you lose your income? It works. Hyundai Motor America announced Tuesday a 14-percent increase in sales compared with January 2008. Hyundai sold 24,512 cars and trucks. The entire market had its worst January, meanwhile, since 1963, according to General Motors' chief analyst Mike DiGiovanni. GM reported a drop of 49 percent. Ford-Lincoln-Mercury sales fell off 39 percent. Chrysler LLC was off 55 percent.
 Automakers sold about 668,000 cars and trucks in the U.S. in January, compared with about 790,000 in China, according to DiGiovanni. The Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) was an estimated 9.5 million last month, or 9.8 million counting medium- and heavy-duty trucks.
Each of the Detroit Three pointed to huge drops in fleet sales. Unlike retail sales, fleets buy cars and trucks in a just-in-time, special-order fashion. With all factories essentially shuttered from mid-December to January, GM's fleet sales fell 80 percent (retail was off 38 percent), Ford lost 65 percent (retail off 27 percent) and Chrysler lost 81 percent (-35 percent, retail). Toyota Motor Sales USA lost 34.4 percent, American Honda fell 30.7 percent and Nissan North America fell 29.7 percent. None of the imports broke out fleet sales changes.
GM, Ford and Chrysler have been talking about cutting unprofitable fleet sales for more than a year, but the lack of production accelerated the drop far past the rate automakers want. With business and leisure travel plunging, rental car agencies are holding on to cars and trucks much longer. Chrysler's Jim Press said the drop in fleet was good news, but admitted that the company seeks a fleet percentage back up into the 20s. So, to the details ...
GM: 129,227 units, off 49 percent
*Chevrolet Traverse, 5,215 units, but all others on the Lambda platform were down.
*Saturn Astra was up 283.3 percent, to 824 units. Still a pittance for a $20k compact, but with a better dollar-to-euro relationship, GM may be making money on the Belgian-built model.
*Only other gainer was the Pontiac Vibe, all new for '09, up 7.4-percent to 2,512. Toyota doesn't break out Matrix sales from its Corolla number.
*Saab sold 624 units (-54.3 percent), Hummer sold 1,222 (-59.9 percent) and Saturn sold 6,172 (-59.3 percent).
Toyota: 117,287 units, off 34.4 percent (on a daily selling rate basis)
*Toyota listed retail sales only for specific models.
*Camry sold 20,792, off 36.8 percent.
*Prius, 8,121, off 31.4 percent.
*Tundra was at 7,076, off 43.6 percent.
Ford-Lincoln-Mercury: 90,596, off 39 percent
*Lincoln (6,091, off 23.7 percent) outsold Mercury (5,183, off 44.2 percent).
*Ford Taurus sold 1,705, off 59.2 percent.
*Fusion was off just 11.2 percent, at 8,152 units, passing Focus in sales.
*Flex sold 2,459, more than 2,700 short of the Chevy Traverse.
*F-Series was at 25,237, off 38.6 percent, but ahead of Camry.
*Lincoln sold 1,535 of its new MKSes and 1,561 MKZes (the latter off 42.4 percent).
*No gainers at Ford.
*Volvo brand sold 2,910, off 63.8 percent, amidst rumors that Renault may buy it.
*Bestselling Volvo is the XC90, at 573 units, off 70.1 percent.
Honda: 71,031, off 30.7 percent
*Fit was up 1.8 percent, to 4,745.
*Acura TSX was up 11.6 percent, to 2,406.
*Everything else was down. Accord, at 16,581, was off 33.5 percent.
Chrysler: 62,157, off 55 percent
*Dodge Challenger (2,757 units) outsold Avenger (2,171, down 70 percent) and Chrysler Sebring (1,943, down 79 percent).
*Dodge Ram fell 35 percent, to 12,843. Chrysler says most were the '09 model.
*Chrysler 300 was off 71 percent, to 2,250, while Dodge Charger was off 49 percent, to 4,028. Two words: cop cars.  *Bright spot alert! Jeep Wrangler was up 4 percent, to 6,362.
*Dodge Viper was up 74 percent, to 127 units. Still, Press says Chrysler is fielding three proposals for the sale of the model.
Nissan: 53,884, off 29.7 percent
*Sold 1,280 370Zs, up 47 percent over the old model.
*Rogue was up 6.8 percent, to 5,802.
*Infiniti was down 20.9 percent, to 7,115. EX and FX, both new models, saw big increases.
OTHERS:
*Hyundai's 14-percent increase, to 24,512, included rising sales for Accent, Sonata, Santa Fe and Veracruz. It sold 1,056 of its new RWD Genesis sedan.
*Mazda, at 15,420, was down 27.3 percent. The 3 was up 16.3 percent, to 7,649, but even the new 6 dropped, 60.1 percent, to 2,529.
*BMW Group was off 15.5 percent, to 12,232. Mini posted record sales of 54k units last year, but was down 15.4 percent, to 2,082 versus January '08.
*Subaru posted an 8-percent increase, to 12,194 units. That's all due to Motor Trend's 2009 Sport/Utility of the Year, the Forester, which was up 115 percent, to 5,162. All other models decreased.
|