US April car sales

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Ford down 32% but market share up and second in US (GM 1 and Toyota 3rd)
Chrysler down 48%
GM down 34%
Toyota down 42%
Honda down 25%
Hyundai down 14%
Nissan down 38%


http://business.theage.com.au/busine...0502-aqkw.html

US auto sales fall 34 per cent
May 2, 2009 - 11:53AM

Bad news at Chrysler and General Motors took a bite out of US car sales that fell 34 per cent in April as consumers shied away from dealerships amid growing economic uncertainty.

The news of Chrysler's bankruptcy on Thursday came too late in the month to have a major impact on sales.

But school closures as a result of swine flu and the media's focus on the ongoing problems in the car industry had "a little bit of a CNN effect" on overall industry sales, said Ford analyst George Pipas.

"There are indications in the economy several leading indicators, that suggest that we are near or at bottom in auto sales, and also the economy's contraction is beginning to subside," Pipas said.

Ford sales fell 32 per cent to 134,401 in April and were down 40 per cent for the year to date at 458,772.

But Ford - which unlike GM and Chrysler, has not needed government aid to survive a collapse in car sales - celebrated the fact that it has managed to increase its share of the US market for six out of the past seven months.

Ford managed to overtake Toyota to win second place in April with 15.8 per cent of the US market, up from 15.1 per cent in April of 2008, according to Autodata.

"Our view is that, not withstanding the travails that relate to GM and Chrysler the economy is poised to start expanding and that we could well see a modest recovery in the second half of the year," Pipas said in a conference call.

Chrysler saw sales drop 48 per cent in April to 43,138 as its market share fell to 9.4 per cent form 11.8 per cent a year ago but said showroom traffic actually increased after the bankruptcy announcement Thursday.

The troubled carmaker attributed the sharp drop in April sales to a planned reduction in low-margin sales to fleet customers and the broad economic downturn and said it hoped to keep sales stable despite the bankruptcy filing.

"Chrysler retail sales and share were well above expectations, which shows the real strength of our dealers and products in the marketplace in spite of a month filled with troubling headlines," said Jim Press, Chrysler vice chairman and president.

"This gives us reason for optimism as we begin working on our new alliance and restructuring plans."

Chrysler, which has shuttered plants as it restructures under court protection, said it had a 114 day supply of inventory of 336,913 units. It hopes to emerge from bankruptcy protection within 30 to 60 days.

General Motors - which last week announced plans to idle 13 plants over the coming months and has until June 1 to present a revised viability plan to the Treasury Department - reported a 34 per cent drop in April US car sales to 173,007 vehicles.

"We continue to suffer with the brands that are for sale or being wound down," said Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president for North American sales and marketing.

"We also had to fight off erroneous rumours that we were selling off the Buick brand."

Despite these challenges, LaNeve said he was "encouraged" by the fact that industry sales appear to have stabilised and GM managed to increase its share to 20.9 per cent from 20.5 per cent in April 2008.

Toyota Motor reported a 42 per cent drop in April US sales to 126,540 vehicles as its share fell to 15.4 per cent from 17.4 per cent a year earlier.

Sales for the year to date were down 38 per cent at 486,212 vehicles.

Honda's sales fell less sharply than other major carmakers, down 25 per cent to 101,029 with its share up to 12.3 per cent from 10.8 per cent in April 2008, according to Autodata.

Hyundai also managed to increase its share of the US market to 4.1 per cent from 3.1 per cent a year ago as April sales fell just 14 per cent to 33,952 vehicles.

Nissan's share fell to 5.8 per cent from 6.1 per cent in April 2008 as sales fell 38 per cent to 47,190 vehicles, according to Autodata.

AFP