Oct. Sales Slow at GM, Ford

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This trend is no surprise. Big 2 sales go down, while the Asian imports post sales increases.

General Motors and Ford Motor Co. continued to lose sales ground in October despite the introduction of several new products. Asian automakers continue to pick up ground as Toyota, Nissan, Honda, and Hyundai all posted sales increases.

DaimlerChrysler reported that the Chrysler Group posted a two-percent sales increase during October but added that Mercedes-Benz reported a sales decline of five percent. Mercedes is preparing to launch a series of new products over the next 18 months, DaimlerChrysler officials said.

The Chrysler Group continues to benefit on the overhaul of the company's model line over the past couple of years. "We were led by the strength of the Chrysler brand and strong products like the Chrysler 300, the repositioned Chrysler Pacifica, and our minivans," said Gary Dilts, Chrysler Group vice president of sales.

Ford Motor Co. reported sales dropped five percent during October. However, company officials were encouraged by the acceptance of the new vehicles that began reaching showrooms last month. Both the Ford Freestyle and Ford Five Hundred were attracting buyers, the company said. Based on limited sales in October, probably more than 40 percent of the buyers were coming out of non-Ford vehicles, said George Pipas, a Ford sales analyst.

Pipas, however, also acknowledged that consumers were already expressing a distinct preference for the Freestyle. "We're very encouraged by the early dealer and consumer response to our new products," added Jim O'Connor, Ford group vice president, North American Marketing, Sales and Service. "We have our sights set on stronger retail sales in the months ahead," O'Connor added.

Ford stays on top

The Ford brand also remained ahead of General Motors' Chevrolet brand last month despite speculation that Chevy was poised to overtake Ford for the first time in 18 years. "GM's October sales results were not as strong as we had expected, but not entirely surprising given our exceptionally strong sales in September," said John Smith, group vice president GM North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing, who reported that GM's sales dropped 4.6 percent.

Toyota, the largest Japanese automaker, continued to pick up market share. Toyota Motor Sales reported record October sales of 170,815 units, an increase of 13.0 percent over last October. So far this year, Toyota sales have increased 9.3 percent, Press said.

Combined sales for Nissan Motor Co. and its luxury Infiniti division also increased 27.3 percent in October from a year ago, the best October ever for Nissan North America. Jed Connelly, Nissan vice president, said sales of the company's Titan pickup truck were particularly strong last month.

American Honda, the other major Japanese automaker, also posted new all-time October sales records, putting the company on track for its twelfth consecutive year of record sales.

Of the companies reporting on Election Day, Mitsubishi showed the worst results, with sales down 44 percent from October of 2003. Volkswagen's sales also slipped, by 7.4 percent, and Isuzu's were flat from a year ago. On the plus side were Subaru, with sales up 11 percent, and Porsche, which saw its sales rise 13 percent.

Dilts suggested that with the Presidential campaign at an end, consumer sentiment might rebound after declining since August. The outlook for new vehicle sales could improve along with it: "We hope the consumer is going to be feeling a little bit better in the fourth quarter," Dilts said.

Jim Press, Toyota Motor Sales executive vice president and COO, he expected sales to improve now that the election cycle is finally complete. "Once the election dust settles, the fourth quarter will be stronger than expected," Press said.

Jarleth Costello, an economist with the Ford Motor Co., cautioned that the economic data doesn't support some of those hopes. Consumer spending went up 4.6 percent last month, while consumer income increased only 1.4 percent, Costello said. "Current consumer income can't support that kind of spending on a sustained basis," Costello said. "We'll be keeping a close look on jobs growth and oil prices," he added

[divinewisdom]

i guess we can expect another round of incentives.

[Nyceguy17]

I wonder if Honda can count as Domestic car sales, since most are made here now. I guess not, but I wonder what the figures are of US made car sales Vs. other US import car sales. I guess with the Big 4+Honda it'd be massive.

[Lights_Out]

Originally Posted by divinewisdom

i guess we can expect another round of incentives.

Actually, i believe Ford is trying to scale back on incentives. They're also trying to cut on rentals and fleets and/or limiting it to specific models so as not to cheapen the value and resale of the whole brand. So they're sacrificing sales allright. Should be interesting how things pan out for them.

[dodolaje]

Originally Posted by 5.0

Actually, i believe Ford is trying to scale back on incentives. They're also trying to cut on rentals and fleets and/or limiting it to specific models so as not to cheapen the value and resale of the whole brand. So they're sacrificing sales allright. Should be interesting how things pan out for them.

chrysler making alot of money...and very aggresive in selling all their product
GM have too much inventories and cutting down production. with less inventories they also could reduce incentives and start making profit again
Ford Trying to promote alot of hybrid SUV since their Escape is a big hit also trying to change image by selling less fleet and also reduce incentive so in long term their value is not that bad.
Honda is in big trouble because of slow US sales.concentrate too much on the new truck new SUV and new minivan and forgot their best product civic and accord which is slowly overtaken by other car manufactures
Toyota.... STILL DAMN RICH and STILL DAMN GROWING but doesnt wanna ADMIT that they beat GM long time ago...( in profit not in number of vehicles sold ).. but its good.. so ppl didnt put alot of expectation in toyota. so toyota still can claim growing.

[Lights_Out]

Originally Posted by dodolaje

chrysler making alot of money...and very aggresive in selling all their product
GM have too much inventories and cutting down production. with less inventories they also could reduce incentives and start making profit again
Ford Trying to promote alot of hybrid SUV since their Escape is a big hit also trying to change image by selling less fleet and also reduce incentive so in long term their value is not that bad.
Honda is in big trouble because of slow US sales.concentrate too much on the new truck new SUV and new minivan and forgot their best product civic and accord which is slowly overtaken by other car manufactures
Toyota.... STILL DAMN RICH and STILL DAMN GROWING but doesnt wanna ADMIT that they beat GM long time ago...( in profit not in number of vehicles sold ).. but its good.. so ppl didnt put alot of expectation in toyota. so toyota still can claim growing.

Pretty much a recap of what's going on.

The "Hemi" single handly brought Chrysler out of the red. Gosh, that engine has been hyped to pluto and back. Gotta give them credit though, these guys are serious about peroformance. Ford is trying to reinvest in cars once again now that they realize that they shouldn't depend so much on the SUV/truck market. Ford will also have to come up with a way to make thier PAG group (Jaguar, Aston, Land Rover) profitible because they're costing Ford tons of money and resources. GM is impressing me in terms of how they've transformed cadillac into a world-class contender, but have otherwise failed to impress me when it comes to their chevy/pontiac divisions.

Toyota, is Toyota. They're shaping up to be the worlds largest auto manu and will continue to dominate the world market.