Auto sales continue their slide
Year-end figures from the top automakers show steep declines, capping the industry's worst year since the early 1990s. Chrysler reports a 53% dive in U.S. sales in December.
Top automakers reported year-end U.S. sales totals today, and all posted steep declines compared with 2007 as the industry had its worst year since the early 1990s.
Perhaps the most shocking results came from Chrysler, which said its U.S. sales fell 53% in December compared to same month a year earlier. For 2008, Chrysler sold only 1.45 million vehicles, a 30% decline compared to 2007.
General Motors Corp.'s U.S. sales for December declined 31% from the same month a year earlier, and its 2008 total of 2.98 million cars and light trucks sold was a 23% decline from 2007.
Ford said that its December U.S. sales dropped 32% from the same month a year earlier and that for all of 2008, it suffered a 21% slide, finishing the year with 1.99 million vehicles sold.
Among imports, Toyota's sales in December fell 37%, and on the year, its sales were down 15.3%, with 2.22 million vehicles sold. Honda said it was off 35% for December, and, with 1.4 million vehicles sold, its year-to-year total was down 8%. Nissan Motor Co. sales declined 30% in December and 11% for the year.
Among European carmakers, Volkswagen reported a 14% slide for December and 3% for the full year, while Daimler's Mercedez-Benz unit fell 24% in the final month of a year that was down 1.5%.
The only major automaker to post a full-year sales gain was Subaru, which eeked out a 1% increase, though in December the Japanese carmaker suffered an 8% decline.
Official sales totals for the industry are expected later today after all carmakers release their final tallies, but Ford's chief sales analyst, George Pipas, said the automaker expected the U.S. total to fall to 13.5 million, the lowest total since 1992, when sales finished at 13.1 million. In 2007, Americans bought 16.1 million cars and trucks.
Today's sales figures put a finish on a terrible year for the industry, which suffered through a string of challenges culminating in GM and Chrysler receiving emergency loans from the U.S. government to avoid failure.
Soaring gas prices, frozen credit markets and rapidly diminishing corporate cash positions affected not only U.S. automakers, but European and Asian companies as well.
"An unbelievable year. I can't say it's one I want to repeat," said Mark LaNeve, head of North American sales and marketing at GM. "Hopefully next year will be a year that improves rather than deteriorates."
