[Ming]

GM, Ford Post Huge Sales Declines in June
Friday July 2, 8:08 am ET
John Porretto
AP Auto Writer

DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. took the hardest hits as demand for new cars and trucks fell more sharply than expected in June, but most industry observers say an improving economy should spur business for the rest of the summer.

"There's no doubt higher gasoline prices over the last few months have temporarily affected retail spending," said Jim Press, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Corp.'s U.S. arm. "However, we're already seeing a rise in consumer confidence and a softening of fuel prices. The combination should result in an upswing in industry sales this summer."

GM and Ford, the nation's two largest automakers, both posted unexpectedly large double-digit sales declines last month and continued to lose business to foreign rivals.

But DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group, the No. 3 U.S. automaker, rode strong demand for its new Chrysler 300 flagship sedan to a 5.5 percent increase in car sales and a 1 percent overall gain.

Among foreign brands posting higher year-over-year results were Toyota Motor Sales USA, American Honda Motor Co., Nissan North America, Hyundai Motor America, Kia Motors America and BMW.

Toyota, the No. 1 Japanese automaker and No. 4 behind GM, Ford and Chrysler in U.S. sales, ended its best-ever six months of sales in 47 years of business in the United States. The automaker sold 1,004,636 new cars and trucks in the United States through June, when sales were up 5 percent. Chrysler sold 1,135,898 vehicles during the same period.

June's seasonally adjusted annual sales rate, or SAAR, was 15.4 million units, compared with 16.5 million a year ago and 17.8 million in May. The rate indicates what sales would be for the full year if they remained at the same pace for all 12 months. Full-year sales for 2003 were 16.7 million.

Analysts predicted overall June results would be lower than a year ago and down significantly from May's torrid selling pace, but no one expected the pace to fall off as drastically as it did.

Kia was up 31 percent in June, Hyundai 14 percent, BMW 8 percent and Honda 1 percent.

Percentages are adjusted and based on the daily sales rate; there were 25 selling days last month and 24 in June 2003.

Market share for Detroit's Big Three was 58.5 percent in June, down from 61.6 a year ago, according to Autodata Corp. At the same time Asian automakers grew their U.S. share to 34.5 percent in June from 31.3 a year ago.

GM officials said earlier this week that June results were shaping up to be below expectations, though its 15.6 percent drop from a year ago was larger than observers predicted. Car sales at the world's largest automaker were down 15 percent, while truck sales fell 16 percent.

Full Story Here

 

[paul8488]

yikes. as much as you can't always read too far into trends over such short term, it's troubling for GM that incentives are apparently losing their effectiveness. what's GM's next card to play? a good chunk of their lineup is new. quality is up, and the perception of poor quality will take time to heal. they offer vehicles (several, in most cases) in every category. i'll doubt a price drop is an option they'd consider, and incentives can't feasibly continue to rise.

kia, with low quality scores and a small, uninspiring lineup increased sales 31%. what gives? consumers just don't want to like GM it seems. it's frustrating that a company with the vast resources and experience that GM has can't be more competitive. where's GM's 300C? that one car appears to be carrying chryslers sales increase singlehandedly. a few months back there was a report that malibu output was increased, though sales have softened already.

GM's got many very decent vehicles, but there are lotsa options out there that are better than decent. by a few measurables i'll give a nod to GM cars being best in class, but not many. i know it's been debated before, but i see little excuse that GM isn't the undisputed sales leader in more (any?) categories. yes, combined full-size pickups sell more than ford. but why isn't the impala number 1? why isn't cavalier number 1? why isn't trailblazer number 1? why isn't the venture number 1? it's clear why they aren't number 1 right now... they aren't class leading products... but GM simply must come to lead the pack, and it'd say those massive market vehicle categories are the important ones.

not sure if anything is in the pipeline that will change GM's fortunes. cobalt and G6 look promising, but so did the malibu. the fact that G6 buyers will have to wait almost a year before all models and options are available won't help. i wanna like GM, and can think of many GM's i'd buy... buy i'd be hard pressed to argue that GM is tops.

 

[dindak]

Bad news for GM. They need to get all that new product out ASAP. I suspect there are many people holding off on cars especially given we will have Cobalts and G6's real soon. Unless I was given a scream of a deal, why get a Grand Am over a much better G6?

Chrysler has those beauty 300's and GM still has not fixed up the Impala interior. They need to get on that yesterday and refresh the truck interiors while they are at it.

Cadillac was the bright spot for sure and given the great product they have, no surprise. STS will kick butt when it comes.

 

[paul8488]

just came across ford escape sales figures:

up 25% for the year: 98,532 units
up 11% for june 2004: 16,314 units


and the jeep liberty:

up 10% for the year: 86,319 units
up 7% for june 2004: 13,579 units


and GM? combined VUE and equinox sales:

up 35% for the year: 82,048 units
up 11% for june 2004: 14,779 units


i know the equinox is new, and a 35% increase is nothing to sneeze at for the first 6 months of the year. but in typical GM fashion these sales figures are divided between two different vehicles. and they're still not number 1! the cost to design and produce two different vehicles might not be double that of one vehicle, but it certainly affects the profit GM can make from it's small utes compared to ford or jeep with their single model. yes, having the choice of different vehicles (VUE or equinox) is nice, but it sure weighs down GM. there's absolutely no excuse for GM not outselling ford and jeeps single models with two different ones, as they do with their full size trucks.

 

[oldsintrigue00]

well the interior of the trucks is a must until they redesign them and the impalas interior and some exterior has to be changed before the next impala comes out but until then chevys gotta change the impala for 05 at least a few small details nice chrome or wood trim would be nice inside the car instead of all plastic thats inside of it..but its bad when we dont have at least 4 catergories as a best seller or #1 in customer satisfaction.....why does pontiac put off all the upcoming models:G6,Solstice,and the rest of the 05 and 06 models theyre building the cars now for concepts bring em to life quicker and stop showing the damn world whats up our friggin sleeves i hate that.....JUST BUILD THE FRIGGIN CARS!!!!! weve seen the upcoming G6 and people love it BUILD IT NOW!!! people have seen the Solstice BUILD IT NOW!!!!!!why stop at looking into the near future just build em and bring them to market quicker its a damn tease for people who love the car and have to wait for 1 or 2 yrs to get it....Solstice aint gonna be a 20,000 annual car production because its a sweet car its gonna be like the 300C from chrysler a hot car when it comes out and hopefully still sell well afterwards.....BUT STOP PUTTING CARS OFF FOR FUTURE PRODUCTION....look how fast they brought the Chevy SSR to production what was it a yr, yr and 1/2 come on build the damn things now and stop the teasing

 

[me3head]

You should be counting Mazda Tribute with the Escape.

 

[paul8488]

Originally posted by me3head@Jul 2 2004, 02:44 PM
You should be counting Mazda Tribute with the Escape.

the data i found didn't mention the tribute, so i don't think it was included in escape sales.

 

[ponchoman49]

I'm not surprised to see Kia up 31%. There quality has improved by leaps and bounds just like Hyundai. And they can sell a comparable sized vehicle for thousands less than the big 3. I can get into a fully optioned Optima with leather seats, V6, moonroof, wood steering wheel, cd/cassette sound system, an awesome interior etc, for about $2,000 less than an LS Malibu with no options, no moonroof or leather and that skimpy 3/36 warrenty. Granted the malibu has an adge in hp and highway mileage but people are gonna buy where the good deals are I think. And that Optima drives like a dream and from what current owners are telling me have been trouble free.

 

[tgagneguam]

Originally posted by ponchoman49@Jul 2 2004, 03:31 PM
I'm not surprised to see Kia up 31%. There quality has improved by leaps and bounds just like Hyundai...

According to whom or what? Kia consistently sits near the bottom in J.D. Power's IQS and longterm dependability studies. I'm not aware if they have any good ratings with Consumer Reports. And if I recall correctly, they didn't do well in AutoPacific's quality studies, either. In addition, they have nothing on GM or the other domestics in perceived quality.

In my mind, there is no question: I would take a new [high quality by several studies] Malibu over an Optima without question. (Yes, I have seen and driven both.)

Unfortunately, your misinformed opinion demonstrates well what the Big Three are up against in terms of perceptions. You believe that Kia is high quality, when this does not bear out in any reliable way. (Please, do not thrill me with your stories of how you owned one or two Kia's without any problems. I will easily counter with my favorable experiences with many domestic models. Experiential data is not as useful as scientific/statistical data.)

Though I'm not a fan of Toyota or Lexus automobiles, I can at least appreciate why they garner success with consumers. Their cars are quite good in a variety of ways. The success of Kia and Hyundai almost completely escapes me, though I can understand the pricing factor. Otherwise, these two companies are subpar.

 

[stewacide]

Originally posted by me3head@Jul 2 2004, 02:44 PM
You should be counting Mazda Tribute with the Escape.

Mazda sells ~5k Tributes a month in the US, which puts Ford signifigantly ahead.

And BTW Mazda's sales are up 18.2% over last year, and Volvo is also setting sales records every month, so unless North American consumers really just don't like domestic brands and not just domestic cars, all these new Mazdas and Volvos cum Fords on the way should be big hits. The Mazda cum Ford Escape certainly has been...

 

[paul8488]

Originally posted by tgagneguam@Jul 2 2004, 03:48 PM
The success of Kia and Hyundai almost completely escapes me, though I can understand the pricing factor. Otherwise, these two companies are subpar.

hyundai's resurgence is a little more understandable, i'd say. initial quality has zoomed past toyota, though long-term durability is still spotty. add the pricing factor you mention and the excellent warranty and it's not such a stretch that hyundai is successful. and yet kia's the one that's up 31%! guess this stuff can't be understood!