Every major automaker operating in the United States reported sales declines for the month of September. Overall automobile sales for September 2008 declined 26.6 percent when compared to September 2007, according to data released today. The bad news is undoubtedly tied to the overall financial downturn in America, rather than problems associated with any particular carmaker.
The biggest loser was Isuzu, which posted a 54.3 percent decline, according to data collected by Automotive News. The Japanese automaker — which is pulling out of the U.S. market in January — sold just 258 cars last month.
Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors posted declines of 36.3 percent, 32.8 percent, and 15.6 percent, respectively. GM, flush with new products and media attention, reported a relatively modest decline, when compared with its rivals. Also, despite falling from 334,974 unit sales to 282,806, GM remains the country’s largest automaker. The worst performer within GM was Hummer, with a drop of 54.8 percent.
The Ford Motor Company’s worst performer was Volvo, which saw sales fall 51.8 percent to 4,054 units. That said the Ford/Lincoln/Mercury division performed poorly with a decline of 33.7 percent, from 175,361 to 116,301.
Toyota (including Lexus and Scion) reported a sharp drop of 32.3 percent, selling 144,260 units, versus 213,042 a year ago. Honda’s decline was less severe, but still significant at 24.0 percent — down to 96,626 from 127,200. Nissan also dropped considerably — from 94,269 units to 59,565 — a 36.8 percent fall. Suzuki’s sales dropped 46.6 percent from 7,653 to 4,083 units.
Even the long-successful BMW Group faltered last month, posting a 25.7 percent drop in sales. The company sold just 18,543 BMW and MINI brand vehicles, versus 24,968 in September 2007. Rival Daimler AG had the smallest decline of any automaker — falling just 8.4 percent from 22,481 to 20,582 sales.
German automaker Porsche wasn’t so lucky — its sales fell a whopping 44.8 percent, from 2,641 to 1,458 sales. Volkswagen faired better, posting a decline of 9.4 percent — falling from 27,061 to 24,504 sales.
Korea’s Kia and Hyundai, which have been on a roll up until now, posted declines of 27.8 and 25.4 percent, respectively.
10/01, 5:11 PM
posted by:
ktulu
as cheech ^ chong (genuses!) would say
things R tiuff all over
10/01, 5:24 PM
posted by:
inline6
Wow..GM was in the top 3 majors that declined the least. That’s not so bad for them!
10/01, 5:34 PM
posted by:
Jordan
good for gm, mercedes, and volkswagen.
10/01, 5:52 PM
posted by:
golf4me
Just imagine if GM hadn’t extended their Employee pricing…ouch. Glad to see Toyota and Honda bite it a little, though they’ll probably spin it by saying it’s because they couldn’t make enough cars…
10/01, 6:03 PM
posted by:
DrFill
Looks like evrybody is checking their budget, and the stock market, and waiting for the ’09s in October.
DrFill
10/01, 6:04 PM
posted by:
A4
yay VW!
10/01, 6:19 PM
posted by:
autonut
The interesting statistics is not how much is sold vs. unsold, but how big hole automaker is in. Another point: 09 probably will not be better. All indications are that it will be worse then 08.
10/01, 6:51 PM
posted by:
t-ak-box
Look like everyone is grabbing ankles these days.
10/01, 6:52 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Back in the day, September was ‘the’ month for all things automotive. You could almost set your watch by it as just about every new or revised model would appear in the showroom just as fall came. I don’t believe it holds nearly the same significance now as in the past.
10/01, 7:03 PM
posted by:
autonut
Johnny, you are correct as usual. September starts now practically in May and for some cars in February. How often ‘09 model appeared earlier this year? Even Honda that have never delivered anything before October “deadline” started selling ‘09 Fit in August, because ‘08 were already gone.
10/01, 8:03 PM
posted by:
Madcapp
Oh noooo, we couldn’t possibly be in a recession.
10/01, 9:00 PM
posted by:
jayjc08
Wow. Goes to show what kind of condition we’re in at the moment.
10/01, 11:49 PM
posted by:
TOZO
FYI: If you go in-depth & check all 38 mass-produced non-exotic marques in the US, EVERY single last marque had declines in September 2008 versus September 2007, except for Smart, since there were no Smart sales back then. 37/38 had lower sales, the 38th one is a debut so it doesn’t count. Freakin’ annihilation!
And most of these companies do not even have any new products for September: Ford? Nothing yet. Chevy – Traverse just barely coming in now. Toyota – Venza – does it even matter? Dodge? No new Rams yet. Honda? If the FCX Clarity counts! Nissan? Murano & Maxima debuted months ago. No one is even trying anymore!
10/01, 11:54 PM
posted by:
sharpie
Yeah Madcapp, we couldn’t be in a recession because the fundeMENTALS of our economy are still strong, so strong that nobody is buying things.
10/02, 1:01 AM
posted by:
howsmydriving
Ford sales dropped more than GM or Chrysler. That’s what you get for making the most boring cars on the planet.
10/02, 1:22 AM
posted by:
DrFill
Honda has a new Accord, Pilot, and Fit, and still got it’s ass kicked
Lack of Credit from lenders crushed many buyers
Fewer leases by GM & Chrysler.
Domestics pimping out end of the year incentives starting in June.
And The beat goes on.
DrFill
10/02, 1:35 AM
posted by:
FairlightRacing
Ehh, sorry howsmydicksucking. Toyota has the crown for most boring cars on the planet. And speaking of Toyota, where is tripleonefluffer to stick up for Honda and Toyota? Looks like GM sold more than both of them combined.
I, for one am, rooting for GM. The last thing this country needs right now is a failure of any of its Big Three automakers.
10/02, 9:06 AM
posted by:
carstuff
Malibu sales keep continuing to go up.
Also GM trucks were only down 20% while the market was down further. Looks like folks are starting to buy some more trucks. Perhaps business’s need to replace what they have and cannot wait any longer. This may be the bottom on real truck sales.
10/02, 10:01 AM
posted by:
Z06ified
LMAO – Porsche down 45%. Now you know who a big portion of Porsche’s sales came from: Lehman Brothers employees.
Maybe now Porsche will have to start charging a fair price for their vehicles instead of the rip-off prices they were selling to the idiots at Lehman.
10/02, 11:27 AM
posted by:
Need more oil for GM
Big losses at Honda and Toyota! THe ride is over boys, time to pack up and go back to Japan. You don’t belong here!
And take your ignorant fuking buyers with you, they don’t belong here either!
10/02, 1:49 PM
posted by:
Nesodian
This is disappointing, I wish they would have listed how all manufacters did. Now I have to search around for the company’s they didn’t mention.
10/02, 5:24 PM
posted by:
1c3d0g
Man! Tough times to be an auto giant…still, if they have a sound plan with fuel efficiency at the top of their priorities, they’ll weather this through.