Except for BMW, car sales fall in December

DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors and Hyundai have each lost retail market share in the first 11 days of December when compared to a similar time period a year ago, according to J.D. Power and Associates. Similarly, overall industry new-vehicle retail sales were down 14 percent for the first 11 days of December compared to 2004. All multi-franchise manufacturers except BMW (up 3%) were showing a sales decline in early December. Aside from Honda (down 3%) and Toyota (down 6%), all multi-franchise manufacturers were down by double digits. Although industry sales have declined compared to a year ago, the decline was less significant when compared to November 2005 results. "December of 2004 was an exceptionally strong sales month," said economist Bob Schnorbus. Sales at that time were driven by deep discounts. The positive BMW sales numbers are indicative of the company's ongoing strength in what is a relatively weak market. Recently, it was reported the BMW had surpassed last year's total sales in 11 months this year.



Market share

Retail market share for DaimlerChrysler was down to 12.6 percent compared to the first 12 days of December 2004 (13.3%). Ford's retail market share was 15.8 percent (compared to 17.9% a year ago), GM's share was down to
21.7 percent (versus 22.4%) and Hyundai's share declined to 3.8 percent (versus 4.1%). While retail share declined among domestic automakers versus a year ago, BMW, GM and Ford increased their market share compared to November
2005 results.

Conversely, Toyota Motor and American Honda gained market share, while Nissan Motor's share was flat when compared to early December 2004. Toyota's market share increased to 17.1 percent (versus 15.5%), Honda's share was 11.8 percent (versus 10.5%) and Nissan's market share was flat at 7.4 percent. Overall, the domestics are still below long-term historical share levels in December, while American Honda and Toyota are up considerably.

Sales

Although industry sales have declined compared to a year ago, the decline was less significant when compared to November 2005 results. Industry retail new-vehicle sales were down only 6 percent in early December when compared with early November, and two corporations, General Motors (up 5%) and BMW Corporation (up 3%), showed an increase.

While sales have slowed, new vehicles were sitting on dealer lots for a shorter amount of time than they were a year ago. The average number of days a new vehicle sat on a dealer lot before being sold in early December was
54 days. Average days to turn during the fourth quarter of 2004, which includes October, November and December, was 68 days. In early December 2005, every major manufacturer's days to turn dropped except for DaimlerChrysler
(which increased 11 percent) and Nissan (which is flat), compared to December 2004.

"GM and Ford are slowly pulling out of their slumps following the summer sales events, but they continue to lose share to Toyota and Honda, among others," said Tom Libby, senior director of industry analysis at PIN. "Volkswagen also appears to be making progress, while sales at both DCX and Hyundai Motor are moderating."