Toyohonda Assault: Toyota outsold Ford in July, Honda outsold Chrysler Group of DCX

[mkaresh]

http://e.ccialerts.com/a/hBEz8cmAG-r...AhWXIGjH/and23

Email from Automotive News, story at link above for subscribers.

JULY SALES
Toyota passes Ford in July
Honda moves ahead of Chrysler group

Dale Jewett

How tough was it for General Motors and Ford Motor Co. in July? Just look at how the automakers ranked by U.S. sales for the month:

1. General Motors

2. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc.

3. Ford Motor Co.

That's right -- Toyota outsold Ford.

Also, American Honda Motor Co. outsold the Chrysler group for the month, and came within 20,161 units of overtaking DaimlerChrysler.

In June, Toyota ranked behind GM and Ford, while the Chrysler group outsold American Honda.

Analysts had expected the Detroit 3 to post a big drop in U.S. sales for July -- and they did. GM was down 22.5 percent, Ford Motor was down 34.3 percent, and the Chrysler group was down 37.4 percent.

But the comparisons with sales in July 2005 are somewhat misleading. A year ago, the Detroit 3 launched employee price incentive programs that triggered the biggest sales month in the industry's history.

That wasn't a factor for Toyota Motor Sales or American Honda. Those automakers didn't jump in on the employee pricing game, and both said their July sales this year set records for the month.

Toyota Motor's sales totaled 241,826 units, up 11.7 percent from July 2005. For the year to date, Toyota's U.S. sales are up 10.1 percent from the same period last year.

American Honda's U.S. sales in July totaled 151,804 units, up 6.0 percent from July 2005. The automaker's year-to-date U.S. sales are up 6.9 percent from last year to 893,031 units.

Japanese rival Nissan North America is having a tougher time as it awaits the arrival of new or redesigned products. The automaker's U.S. sales in July, which include the Infiniti brand, dropped 19.5 percent from July 2005 to 86,408 units. For the year to date, Nissan North America's U.S. sales are down 8.0 percent to 598,176 units.

Overall, U.S. auto sales in July totaled 1,493,329 units, down 17.4 percent from July 2005.

After seven months, U.S. auto sales totaled 9,868,617 units, down 5.0 percent from the same period last year. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate for July was 16,835,727, according to the Automotive News Data Center.

You may e-mail Dale Jewett at djewett@crain.com

[mkaresh]

Employee Pricing isn't doing much for Chrysler.

[tgagneguam]

I don't like the "Detroit 3" designation that I've been seeing more frequently. Enough already.

I never would have guessed Toyota would be passing Ford any time soon. At least I was anticipating the DCX fall from 3 this year.

I think that this is a sad day in Dearborn.

[BigThreeForever]

Damn it, this is getting frightening.

[Ming]

Again, take a look around Suburbia and the sheer number of Accords and Camrys everywhere, and its surprising this kind of thing hasn't happened sooner.

I blame Ford for ignoring their once-proud Taurus and letting the U.S. Focus (a name with international recognition) now get long in the tooth, eschewing both for unrecognized nameplates "Fusion" and "Five-Hundred" and betting the farm on them. Nearly all resources during the late 90's for U.S. Ford cars seemed to be funneled into the SUV and Truck craze. Now they are trying to play catch up against strongly established household names Accord and Camry, the default choices for the masses.

Chrysler has been too mixed up with near-death experiences and mergers, so I expected that.

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

Ford has been #3 global automaker for years...

[markusername]

Originally Posted by Ming

I blame Ford for ignoring their once-proud Taurus and letting the U.S. Focus now get long in the tooth,

Exactly! In the early 90's the Taurus was the best selling car and the benchmark. What did Ford do with the Taurus over the next 10 years? What did Toyota do with the Camry over the next 10 years? What did Honda do with the Accord over the next 10 years?

I get sick and tired of people blaming others (the imports) or the consumer (stupid consumer is buying a Camry) for the problems. The most fundamental problem is product and the lack of investing in it.

GM has the best large SUV's because they have continued to invest in them and spend R&D on them.

Frankly, when it comes to cars though, the imports (led by Toyota/Honda) have overall the best cars because they have continued to invest in them and spend R&D on them.

Is it any wonder why GM and the domestics have the large retail share of SUV's and trucks? Is it any wonder why import cars (at the retail level - fleets are meaningless) are the majority and outsell the domestics?

Each dominates the segment that it put it's money and R&D money into. Domestics are the best at large SUV's and Trucks, Imports at Cars. At the end of day it is about product, and product is only improved if you think it important enough to invest in it.

[FStephenMasek]

Originally Posted by Ming

I blame Ford for ignoring their once-proud Taurus and letting the U.S. Focus (a name with international recognition) now get long in the tooth, eschewing both for unrecognized nameplates "Fusion" and "Five-Hundred" and betting the farm on them.

Ming, the Fusion, Milan, and MKZ/Zephyr are selling well and are a bright spot for Ford. The 2007 models will do even better, as all will offer AWD, a feature which none of the competiition has (except the MKZ vs the CTS and G35), and the MKS will have the new 3.5 V6 and slightly revised styling.

The problem is the Five Hundred, Montego, and Freestyle. Instead of betting the farm, Ford was cheap on the styling, the engine, and features (eg. no telescoping steering column, no dimming exterior mirrors, no rain sensing-wipers, and no Bluetooth). Of course, the new 3.5 V6 and new GM-Ford 6-speed automatic are now in production, and reportedly achieve superior fuel mileage while providing far more power and quieter operation, all on regular. The 2008 versions of those cars will be on sale early in 2007 with the new engine and transmission and the styling they should have had when launched. Hopefully, the features and options / interiors will also have been improved.

The new Ford Edge and Lincoln MKS, unless priced too high, should be very succesful. I have an Edge on order.

Ford is selling the European Focus in the USA as the Mazda 3 and the Volvo 40, so it would be easy for them to also replace the Focus with the European version. The only problem would be the higher cost, but selling stripped cars cheap does not seem profitable, so I don't know what is holding them back.

[hdmax]

8-10 years ago, Ford had 3 vehicles in the top 6 spots. (And 5 in the top 10!) (F-Series, Explorer, Taurus, Ranger, and Escort) Now they have one in the top 10. Remember when the exploer would sale nearly 450,000 a year? This year it'll be lucky to sale 180,000.

There full size SUV`s are being out sold by about 4 to 1 (With the 6 GM offerings vs there 2, not including the Avalanche type (Which would add another 28,000 to GM`s numbers) !)231,300 vs 61,600

[GReekBoy]

fords biggest problem is that all their trucks look alike...its starting to get really old..everything goes back to the 2000 explorer...i dont think anyone will be surprised when the f150 loses its rank

[monza164]

Originally Posted by FStephenMasek

Ming, the Fusion, Milan, and MKZ/Zephyr are selling well and are a bright spot for Ford. The 2007 models will do even better, as all will offer AWD, a feature which none of the competiition has (except the MKZ vs the CTS and G35), and the MKS will have the new 3.5 V6 and slightly revised styling.

The Fusion might be a bright spot, but it's still a little dim. The Taurus still outsells the 500 and Fusion combined, or pretty close anyway. I think people will take a recongized name plate over a new one anyday. I didn't even think the Taurus name had a bad stigma to it. I guess Ford just really wanted all of their cars to start with "F".

[mkaresh]

Originally Posted by Smaart Aas Saabr

Ford has been #3 global automaker for years...

Not many years. It wasn't that long ago that journalists were claiming it was a matter of "when, not if" Ford would pass GM for the #1 spot. They've fallen very quickly.

GM and Ford both neglected small and midsize cars for years. Very short-term thinking. Long-term thinking would suggest you need a broad, strong portfolio of products to be in a good position no matter what the market does.

[Stéphane Dumas]

Originally Posted by mkaresh

Not many years. It wasn't that long ago that journalists were claiming it was a matter of "when, not if" Ford would pass GM for the #1 spot. They've fallen very quickly.

Could we imagine a possible same scenario about Toyota, we currently said it will pass GM for the #1 spot and........

[GM-Joe]

Originally Posted by Ming

Again, take a look around Suburbia and the sheer number of Accords and Camrys everywhere

You are considered working class or just trash if you drive an American car in Suburbia; it is rediculous.

[mikesright]

WOW! I did not see this coming. This was an abysmal month for Ford and DCX, a terrific one for Toyota and Honda, and surprisingly, GM too!

Let's break it down.

If Chevrolet was a private automaker, it would have outsold every other automaker in the US. They also made up 44,000 sales on Ford for #1 brand.

Fleet is starting to break DCX and Ford. This is a notoriously poor fleet month, and they rely on it for 40% + of sales. Of course, Employee Discount season made everyone look pretty terrible, especially DCX, who HAD employee discounts PLUS cash and low-interest financing on the side!

GM did great at keeping its marketshare steady, and was the only domestic to show some restraint in discounts. GM had a really good retail month, and on top of that, they rely on a smaller % of fleet sales. 27% is great business right now, especially as the product onslaught will start in the 4th qtr. They're in good shape for the rest of the year, and gas prices, as many of the offerings will staunch the bleeding in the trucks, and the Lambda's and new Epsilons (plus the Aveo) should get car-based sales from the best in the marketplace.

I'm starting to worry about Ford. Honestly, they are going to be in for a rough last half of the year, P/U sales will go down as they are attacked by GMT-900 (Chevy Silverado was #1 this month, as-is) especially. Car sales might not hold very well for them as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, GM, and DCX attack the car and CUV markets this fall. Quite simply, Ford is losing too many sales, sales it cannot make up with just the CD3 crossovers and fullsize SUV's.

DCX has lots of product, but they are having a hard time getting any gains in sales from it, and are really starting to fall apart.

This truely is a sad day if Ford's #3 in the marketplace and Chrysler group is #5, we just need to make sure GM doesn't ever give up #1 worldwide or in the US by continuing to support the grand turnaround GM is having. Ford and DCX lovers, SUPPORT THEM!