General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, and Nissan — the five largest automakers doing business in America — all reported large sales declines for the month of October 2008, compared with October 2007. GM sales decline the most — 45 percent, while Chrysler fell 35 percent, Nissan 33 percent, Ford 32 percent, Honda 25.2 percent, and Toyota 23 percent.
GM’s sales fell from 307,408 units to 168,719. The Hummer brand was hit the hardest, dropping 64.6 percent. Cadillac declined 55.1 percent, Saturn 54.6 percent, GMC 52.5 percent, Pontiac 48.2 percent, Buick 46.3 percent, Chevrolet 40.3 percent, and Saab 13.2 percent.
The Chrysler brand was the worst performer at Chrysler LLC, declining a whopping 51 percent. Jeep fared slightly better, declining 33 percent, and Dodge posted the smallest decline, down 27 percent. Chrysler LLC’s overall sales were 94,530, down from 145,316.
The Ford Motor Company’s October sales totaled 132,838, down from 194,617. Of the domestic brands, Mercury reported the largest decline — down 47.5 percent. Ford and Lincoln brand sales fell 27.9 and 27.7 percent, respectively. Volvo sales were more than halved — down 52.1 percent.
Nissan North America’s 56,945 vehicle sales were down sharply from the 84,947 recorded in October 2007. The Infiniti division was off 28.6 percent, while the Nissan division was down 33.57 percent.
Honda reported 85,864 sales, compared to 114,799 in October of ‘07. Honda Division posted October sales of 75,756, a decline of 28.4 percent versus October 2007. The Acura Division posted sales of 10,108, a decrease of 24.5 percent.
Toyota’s Lexus division was hard hit, dropping 40.2 percent from October 2007. The Toyota division was off 24.21 percent, while Scion sales dropped 39 percent. In all, Toyota’s vehicle sales totaled 152,101, down from 197,592.
Other smaller automakers, like Volkswagen, fared better. VW’s sales declined just 5.3 percent to 23,478 units, while Subaru fell 13.8 percent to 12,917 vehicles. Mercedes-Benz was down 24.5 percent to 17,257 sales, Mazda dropped 25.9 percent to 16,442 units, and Hyundai dropped 34.5 percent to 36,303 units. Suzuki saw its sales drop 46.7 percent to 3,482 units.
11/03, 11:16 PM
posted by:
tyler_is_aero_tt
Um, we’ve known this for like 3 months.
11/03, 11:36 PM
posted by:
A4
VW>Toyota
11/03, 11:43 PM
posted by:
Ross
Disclaimer: I am a huge GM fan.
But seriously what does GM expect? Trucks and SUVs can only do so much. The Lambda clones will soon cannibalize each others sales. The Camaro has been in development/pre-production since like 2003. The Challenger and Mustang will be biting into any fan base the Camaro thought it had – I don’t care how good the interior looks on the Camaro. The future looks rather bleak for GM as we now know it.
11/03, 11:55 PM
posted by:
DrFill
Outside of the Camaro, I don’t see much success ahead for GM
Impala outsells Malibu almost 2 to 1 still, which I thought was interesting
Mazda 6 sold 4000
Chevy Traverse
Chevy Traverse, which has been pounding the tv more than Obama/McCain combined, sold 1300
1300?
The mighty Hyundai Genesis an impressive 1211 (up 8.9% over September, Hyundai sings!)
Lexus RX less than 5000 (first time that has happened maybe EVER)
No one is enjoying the end of 2008
DrFill
11/04, 12:07 AM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
F*cking economy. There are more fantastic automobiles out there than any time in the last 30 years and no one can afford to buy them. I sincerely hope, my American friends, that you pick the right guy.
11/04, 12:15 AM
posted by:
Mr. Piston
Uhhhhh, Where’s Europe?
11/04, 2:04 AM
posted by:
C6Racer
If you’re looking at an atlas, or any type of map, Europe is the first giant chunk of land to the right of the Atlantic Ocean. Hope that helped, Mr. Piston.
11/04, 2:05 AM
posted by:
C6Racer
I forgot to add that Europe would be above Africa.
11/04, 2:58 AM
posted by:
supercfc
storm
11/04, 12:02 PM
posted by:
Borat
In terms of car sales Europe is in crapper, but Europe is hardly an indication. It usually was selling less cars then US (households need only 1 car per family and public transportation is decent), cars stay longer on the road (they are driven mostly on weekends in cities and most population lives in cities), cars are smaller, with less options and lucky for them cost much more then in US (somebody has to pay for socialized medicine).
The real question is where is BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) in car sales, since those are developeing markets. China sucks, don’t know about Russia and Brazil. I imagine that India will suck soon (they depend on US for their income).
11/04, 1:58 PM
posted by:
howsmydriving
The reason for the sales decline is simple: consumers are refusing to buy FWD cars.
If only….
11/04, 2:04 PM
posted by:
mayer_ray_nagin
When Europe is hurting, that is pretty bad. Company cars make up a much larger chunk of new European auto registrations and sales than in the States. These company cars tend to be leased, and so the replacement sale is more or less a given thing, so when Europe in total is down this means the private market is really not buying squat there.
I guess even Europeans don’t want the piss-poor quality crap they produce there.
11/04, 3:01 PM
posted by:
global_lightning
Now is a good time to buy stock in Honda, Nissan, and Ford. They’re undervalued due to current problems but they also have new products in the pipeline. They will rebound Spring 2009.
If you’re holding GM or Chrysler, I’m sorry…
11/04, 4:30 PM
posted by:
jonmiles
Audi was up .3% Hell yeah
11/04, 4:53 PM
posted by:
yarddog82abn
WOW no more “BIG 3″…
It’s now the “Big 6″
Good thing I’m in the Pack 10 conference….
11/04, 9:33 PM
posted by:
Thunder Chicken
Strangely enough, I read in today’s newspaper that Canadian auto sales are up 1.5%…
11/05, 2:50 PM
posted by:
ricky_b
I took advantage of the soft market and bought a new Passat V6 wagon in Oct. My last car was Acura but I HATE the direction Honda has been taking lately – same goes for Toyota and Nissan too. I also don’t want to see the Big Three drop like this but until they stop offering us dummied down versions of what they offer the rest of the world, they won’t get a second glance from me.
11/09, 5:51 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
Hard times are comin’
“General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, and Nissan — the five largest automakers doing business in America.”
Who at LLn can count?
A4: “VW>Toyota.” Yep.
johnnycanuck: “F*cking economy. There are more fantastic automobiles out there than any time in the last 30 years and no one can afford to buy them.” yep.
“I sincerely hope, my American friends, that you pick the right guy.” the right guy didn’t run. the other right guy was Veep on his ticket.
howsmydriving: “The reason for the sales decline is simple: consumers are refusing to buy FWD cars.” If only.
global_lightning: “Now is a good time to buy stock in Honda, Nissan, and Ford. They’re undervalued due to current problems but they also have new products in the pipeline.”
I’d see what ford does with the UAW before buying their stock.
ricky_b: “I took advantage of the soft market and bought a new Passat V6 wagon in Oct.” Before I crossed the pond, I took advantage of the price of gas ($4.75) and talked my wife into letting me buy a Vulcan.
“My last car was A—a .” congrats on stepping up!