Ford and Toyota show gains as GM continues to slide
GM reported a 5.7 percent drop in light-vehicle deliveries, worse than analysts anticipated, while Chrysler Group LLC’s 3.7 percent decline exceeded estimates. Ford sales soared 33 percent, and Toyota jumped 32 percent.
“People are waking up and realizing the world didn’t end and are starting to return to showrooms," said Aaron Bragman, a forecaster at IHS Global Insight in Troy, Michigan. “It’s way too early to say the trend is pointing north, but if it continues this quarter, it’s a positive sign."
A 15 percent increase in December industrywide sales capped automakers’ first quarterly improvement since the last three months of 2006, after October and November totals were little changed. The recession and bankruptcies at the predecessors of Detroit-based GM and Chrysler ravaged 2009 sales.
Honda Motor Co. said U.S. deliveries increased 24 percent, and Nissan Motor Co. rose 18 percent. The results reshuffled the industry rankings in the U.S., with Honda climbing past Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler and into fourth place for the first time in full-year sales.
Industrywide light-vehicle sales improved to 1.03 million, according to industry researcher Autodata Corp. That equated with a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 11.3 million vehicles, Autodata said. The year-earlier rate was 10.3 million.
GM’s Decline
GM said its December decline was driven chiefly by a 33 percent drop in deliveries to fleet customers and a 55 percent decrease among the Hummer, Pontiac, Saturn and Saab brands that are being shut or sold. Sales rose 2.2 percent for the Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick models that GM is keeping.
The biggest U.S. automaker emerged in July from a 40-day, $50 billion, government-backed bankruptcy that gave taxpayers an ownership stake of about 61 percent. GM began repaying some of the $6.7 billion in outstanding government loans last month.
For the year, GM’s U.S. market share fell to 19.9 percent from 22.3 percent as Ford rose to 16.1 percent from 15 percent and Toyota climbed to 17 percent from 16.7 percent, according to Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-based Autodata.
‘Acceptable Buy’
“Ford is suddenly becoming an acceptable buy for people who it wasn’t before," said John Wolkonowicz, an IHS Global Insight analyst in Lexington, Massachusetts. “Ford is a cool purchase now, which it didn’t used to be. And that is huge."
Ford, the only U.S.-based automaker to decline a federal bailout, cited an 83 percent gain for the Fusion and a doubling of Taurus sales.
The shares of the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker rose 68 cents, or 6.6 percent, to $10.96 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. That was the highest closing price since July 2005.
Industry sales for last year fell 21 percent to 10.4 million units, the fewest since 1982, Autodata said. U.S. sales were 13.2 million in 2008, according to Autodata, after averaging 16.8 million this decade through 2007.
Sales estimates for the U.S.-based automakers represented the average of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, and the projections for Japan’s Toyota, Honda and Nissan were issued by Edmunds.com.
The estimates are based on daily selling rates. December had 28 selling days, 2 more than in 2008. Sales comparisons would be about 8 percentage points higher without the adjustment. For example, GM’s adjusted sales decline was 12.4 percent, bigger than the 10.6 percent drop projected by the analysts. Ford’s tally includes the Volvo brand, which the automaker plans to sell.
Asia-based brands topped domestic automakers with 47.4 percent of U.S. market share, compared with 44.2 percent for GM, Ford and Chrysler.
2010 Outlook
Industry sales in 2010 may rise 19 percent to 12.4 million because of the need for new vehicles and improving availability of consumer credit, said Sean McAlinden, chief economist for the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
“For 2010, I’m leaving my seat belt on because I think volatility is still an element of the new norm," Ken Czubay, Ford vice president of U.S. marketing sales and service, said on a conference call.
Al Castignetti, Nissan’s vice president of U.S. sales, wouldn’t give a forecast for industry sales growth this year beyond saying that his “personal view is we’re not going to see 10 percent or 15 percent increase."
“I’m fairly optimistic," Castignetti said. “The market will get better, credit will get better."
Chrysler Incentives
Chrysler announced new incentives of no-interest, five-year financing or $3,000 in cash rebates on virtually of its 2010 model-year vehicles. Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne has said repeatedly he wants to move away from incentives because they undermine the value of the brands.
Surging unemployment and tight credit depressed 2009 sales, especially in the first half, when the annual rate didn’t exceed 10 million.
Sales rose in August, spurred by government incentives to turn in older models. Fourth-quarter industry results were little changed heading into December, after a drop of 104 units in October and a gain of 139 in November, according to Autodata.
Automaker Totals
GM said light-vehicle sales in December fell to 207,538 units, while Ford’s deliveries increased to 184,655. Nissan’s sales totaled 73,404, and Honda’s U.S. deliveries were 107,143. Chrysler’s tally was 86,523. Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota said sales were 187,860.
Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, said sales rose 41 percent in December to 33,797.
The full-year results showed the toll on the industry from the deepest U.S. economic slump since the Great Depression.
Light-vehicle sales at GM fell 30 percent to 2,071,749, the fewest since 1952, according to data compiled by the trade publication Automotive News. Ford’s 2009 sales fell 15 percent to 1.68 million, while Chrysler tumbled 36 percent, to 931,402. That marked the automaker’s first annual total of fewer than 1 million units since 1963, according to Automotive News.
Toyota said annual sales fell 20 percent 1,770,149. Nissan sales decreased 19 percent for the year, to 770,103 cars and trucks. Honda also declined 19 percent to 1,150,784. Seoul-based Hyundai said U.S. sales rose 8.3 percent to 435,064. bloomberg.com