GM, Ford US sales seen down in May; Toyota, Honda up

[doh]

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/060530/autos...view.html?.v=3

DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. sales for General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM - News) and Ford Motor Co.(NYSE:F - News) were stuck in the slow lane in May, hurt by gas prices and soft demand for large sport utility vehicles, even as Japanese rivals raced ahead, analysts said on Tuesday.

Poor sales and new-model changeovers could force GM and Ford to announce third-quarter production cuts when automakers report their May U.S. sales results on Thursday, a development that would cut into earnings, analysts said.

Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corp. (Tokyo:7203.T - News) and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:7267.T - News) are expected to have seen strong gains because of the popularity of their passenger cars and a reputation for quality and fuel-efficiency.

Overall sales were expected to weaken to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16.2 million to 16.5 million, analysts said. That would be down from a rate of 16.7 last month and down from 17.7 million last May.

Most analysts estimated both GM and Ford could cut third-quarter production by a percentage in the high single digits.

Merrill Lynch analyst John Murphy said higher gas prices likely swayed consumers toward smaller cars and crossovers and away from large SUVs in May.

Most analysts expected GM's sales to be down between 10 and 15 in May, while Ford sales were forecast to slip as much as 11 percent. Sales of DaimlerChrysler AG's (XETRACXGN.DE - News; NYSECX - News) Chrysler Group was expected to post a decline as much as 15 percent.

By contrast, sales of Toyota and Honda were seen up in double digits, according to analysts. Nissan Motor Co (Tokyo:7201.T - News) could see a decline of about 5 percent, they said.

JP Morgan analyst Himanshu Patel, who expected GM's production to be down 6 percent, said the automaker was likely to temporarily idle production lines for its outgoing GMT 800 line of pickup trucks from time to time during third quarter.

The market for large SUVs, like GM's Suburban and Ford's Expedition, shrunk 1.7 percentage points to 3.2 percent in May, while the market share of cars increased 2.5 points to 18.2 percent, Toprak said.

GM, which is launching its GMT 900 series of SUVs this year, began offering an incentive program in late May that subsidizes gas purchases for consumers in Florida and California, two U.S. markets where it has lagged.

[nsap]

Is it really necessary to have articles like this EVERY month? Yeah, we know, GM and Ford will be down, DCX will be slightly up or down, Toyota and Honda will be WAY up, and Nissan will be crappy.

Jeez.

[citric acid]

If people are being influenced by increasing gas prices, there might be a different report in a few months.

In a month or two Nissan could go up if the Versa is a success and people are still enticed by smaller cars. Not sure if GM is releasing anything that could entice those who want to spend less on gas in the coming months, maybe the Vue hybrid and new Aveo. Ford looks pretty dead in the water though, and given my experience with DCX's new compact so are they.

[plane]

30 second blurb.
No in-depth analysis.
No detailed statistics on average transaction price or product mix.
No comparison of retail versus fleet.
No idea whether the newer vehicles are selling well or absolutely breaking out.

Yeah, this is exactly how I want my GM deathwatch news.

[SobeSVT]

Originally Posted by nsap

Is it really necessary to have articles like this EVERY month? Yeah, we know, GM and Ford will be down, DCX will be slightly up or down, Toyota and Honda will be WAY up, and Nissan will be crappy.

Jeez.

How else can people know what is going on?

Automotive News is a little bit more optimistic. They see Ford flat for the months.

Analysts: Slow May for Big 3
U.S. light-vehicle sales for May are likely to hit a 16.3 million annual rate, analysts predict. Analyst David Healy of Burnham Securities expected General Motors sales to fall 10 to 15 percent from the May 2005 level, with Ford Motor Co. flat and the Chrysler group down about 15 percent. story
Published: 8:35 AM, ET, 5/30/06

We will know for sure in a couple of days though.

[JVal14]

Year over year numbers for the domestics will be horrible for some time because of the employee discount last year. I think everyone is aware of this now.

[Bvonscott]

More Doom and Gloom. I love this line : "Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corp. (Tokyo:7203.T - News) and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:7267.T - News) are expected to have seen strong gains because of the popularity of their passenger cars and a reputation for quality and fuel-efficiency."
Reputation? Can you say "misguided perception"!! GM has just as many fuel efficient cars and their quality is top notch... it's the media and the backwards public perception that garner these types of statements. Lame.

[cfch3399]

I sure hope that now that all new GM large SUVs and trucks are out or on their way out, GM will devote 1000% of its time and resources to making the best small, medium, and large sedans on the planet.

[paul8488]

Originally Posted by JVal14

Year over year numbers for the domestics will be horrible for some time because of the employee discount last year. I think everyone is aware of this now.

Good point. Year over year is one thing, but I hope there hasn't been a drop relative to last month (though I know some months are typically hotter than others for auto sales). GM is better off with 15,000 2006 Impala sales with higher profit to retail customers who'll retain a high resale value than 30,000 2005 Impala sales with little profit and crappy resale value.

[Vintalage]

Originally Posted by Bvonscott

More Doom and Gloom. I love this line : "Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corp. (Tokyo:7203.T - News) and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:7267.T - News) are expected to have seen strong gains because of the popularity of their passenger cars and a reputation for quality and fuel-efficiency."
Reputation? Can you say "misguided perception"!! GM has just as many fuel efficient cars and their quality is top notch... it's the media and the backwards public perception that garner these types of statements. Lame.

Do you know what the definition of reputation is?

[SobeSVT]

Originally Posted by Bvonscott

Reputation? Can you say "misguided perception"!! GM has just as many fuel efficient cars and their quality is top notch... it's the media and the backwards public perception that garner these types of statements. Lame.

In the best of scenarions, the misguided perception is on the domestics,and the need to get their good reputation back AND FAST. I think that the reputation of the products by Toyota and Honda is well deserved. Those cars are anything but crap.

[asim]

Originally Posted by nsap

Is it really necessary to have articles like this EVERY month? Yeah, we know, GM and Ford will be down, DCX will be slightly up or down, Toyota and Honda will be WAY up, and Nissan will be crappy.

Jeez.

I waws about to say that! lol

[asim]

Originally Posted by nsap

Is it really necessary to have articles like this EVERY month? Yeah, we know, GM and Ford will be down, DCX will be slightly up or down, Toyota and Honda will be WAY up, and Nissan will be crappy.

Jeez.

I was just about to say that! lol

[Melkur]

Originally Posted by Bvonscott

More Doom and Gloom. I love this line : "Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corp. (Tokyo:7203.T - News) and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:7267.T - News) are expected to have seen strong gains because of the popularity of their passenger cars and a reputation for quality and fuel-efficiency."
Reputation? Can you say "misguided perception"!! GM has just as many fuel efficient cars and their quality is top notch... it's the media and the backwards public perception that garner these types of statements. Lame.

There is nothing misguided at all about Toyota and Honda's quality reputations since they are well earned. Now GM and Ford are still rebuilding their reputations. And with good products like the HHR, Solstice, and CTS, etc. GM can rebuild its reputation over time too.

[expyfan]

Originally Posted by asim

I was just about to say that! lol

We got it the first time,