GM, Ford, Toyota Sales Fell as Buyers Shun Trucks
Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp.'s July U.S. sales declined as record gasoline prices damped demand for trucks and a slowing economy kept consumers away from dealer lots.
Sales fell 27 percent from a year earlier, GM said today. Ford reported a 15 percent drop, while Toyota's fell 12 percent. Honda Motor Co. said it sold 1.6 percent fewer vehicles, and Nissan Motor Co. posted an 8.5 percent increase.
Ford, GM and Chrysler LLC, more dependent on trucks than Asia-based competitors such as Honda, have led the industry's eight-month sales slide. Automakers haven't been able to meet demand for smaller, fuel-efficient cars as $4-a-gallon gasoline and a 1.9 percent second-quarter economic growth rate pinched consumers.
``The numbers I've seen look pretty bad,'' George Magliano, an auto analyst for Global Insight Inc. in New York, said in an interview. ``There is something more going on here than just the economy. I think the high gas prices are changing consumers' mindset about buying cars and they are just staying away.''
The U.S. unemployment rate rose to the highest level in four years in July, the Labor Department said today. The second- quarter growth for the economy announced yesterday was less than the 2.3 percent median projection in a Bloomberg survey.
Chrysler Estimates
Chrysler's sales probably fell 27 percent, the average estimates of four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The figures are adjusted for 2 more selling days this month than in July 2007; unadjusted percentages would be about 8 points less severe.
July sales will match June's annual selling rate of 13.6 million cars and light trucks, according to a Bloomberg survey of 40 analysts and economists. That was the lowest level since 1993, when the industry was emerging from a recession. First-half U.S. sales tumbled 10 percent.
``We expect the second half of 2008 will be more challenging than the first half as economic and credit conditions worsen,'' Ford sales chief Jim Farley said in the statement today.
GM said in a statement that July sales fell to 235,184 from 320,935 a year earlier. The Detroit-based company's sales of light trucks, which include pickups, sport-utility vehicles and van, plunged 35 percent.
``Obviously, the weakness in the truck market persisted,'' said Mark LaNeve, GM's North American sales chief. The company today also reported a $15.5 billion second-quarter net loss.
Ford
Ford, based in Dearborn, Michigan, said it sold 161,530 cars and trucks in July, down from 189,920 a year earlier.
Ford's results included a 21 percent decline for F-Series pickups and a 52 percent slide for Explorer SUVs. The Focus small car gained 16 percent. The company has been operating a Wayne, Michigan, plant on overtime to boost supply of the cars.
Ford is shutting down F-150 plants in Dearborn and in Kansas City, Missouri, for most of the third quarter to pare dealer inventories of the large pickups, company sales analyst George Pipas said on a conference call.
Ford postponed introduction of a redesigned F-150 into the fourth quarter because of falling sales. The Dearborn plant will be shut all quarter while the Missouri factory will have limited output when it begins building the revamped F-150, Pipas said.
Toyota, Honda
Toyota, second in U.S. auto sales this year behind GM, said it sold 197,424 vehicles, a decline from 224,058. Sales of light trucks tumbled 27 percent, including a 42 percent drop for the Tundra large pickup, the Toyota City, Japan-based company said in a statement.
The company sold 8 percent fewer of its Prius gasoline- electric sedans, as it strains to meet demand for the fuel- efficient cars. The total decline adjusted for sales days was 19 percent, Toyota said.
Honda, the only major automaker to increase sales this year, said sales fell to 138,744 from 141,048 a year earlier because of a decline for its light trucks. The Tokyo-based company said its total adjusted for sales days dropped 9.2 percent.
Nissan, Japan's third-largest automaker and No. 6 in the U.S., sold 95,319 vehicles last month, spokesman Fred Standish said in an interview today. The increase adjusted for sales days was 0.1 percent, he said.
Sales rose 16 percent for Nissan's Sentra small cars and 14 percent for its Versa subcompacts. The automaker increased truck sales 18 percent, helped by the new Rogue crossover SUV and a 24 percent gain for its Frontier small pickup.
This year's 28 percent rise in the average gasoline price left automakers unprepared for the shift in demand to cars, analysts have said. Last month, Ford said a short supply of the Focus hurt its sales for June.
While unsold trucks pile up on dealer lots, the industry had a 44-day supply of cars on July 1, below the 60 days that analysts consider typical, according to Automotive News magazine.
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