Comments on: September sales mostly return to dismal lows; some luxury and Korean standouts

By: fishsticks

fishsticks — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:57:40 +0000

Market share changes

GM 2009 Share: 20.8 from 2008: 29.1
Ford 2009 Share: 14.7 from 2008: 12.1
Toyota 2009 Share: 16.9 from 2008: 15
Chrysler 2009 Share: 8.3 from 2008: 11.1

More here: http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-autosales.html#autosalesD

See the tabel labeled “Sales and Share of Total Market by Manufacturer”

The more interesting numbers will be for October which will have the C4C washed out and the inventories should be replenished.

@MHW
As for comparing GM’s 2008 and 2009 numbers both are “gimmick-ed”. Last year was employee pricing and this year its the “60 Money Back” guarantee. This, unfortunately, does not look good for GM. I hope their numbers start to recover.

In two years expect Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Isuzu, maybe Saab, and even Jaguar to be gone from the US market unless sales really start to rebound.

As I have discussed previously (and many others too) – C4C was a big waste of taxpayer money. It only temporarily distorted the market and we are now back on or even below trend now. Just remember, money from the government had to be taken from someone else. Programs like this will never “jump start” the economy.

By: chevymanc6

chevymanc6 — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:02:41 +0000

Good point, gta89mike. But you gotta admit the fact that that American car sales are not that much higher than the foreign cars. So apparently there are still a lot of Americans that are not smart enough to make the right choice and buy an American car. But I’m happy to see GM sales starting to improve.

By: ricky_b

ricky_b — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:34:04 +0000

Looks like Ford is figuring out how the buck the trend but GM and Chrysler are looking shaky. Buick was down 33%, even with the introduction of the new LaCrosse, Chevy down 40% even with the success of the Camaro, and an overall GM drop of 45%. Chrysler was no better with the brand down 62% and the company overall down 42%. Scary.

Not that they have anything I’m currently interested in, but the Koreans seem to be the ones out to take over. Hyundai is now the 7th largest brand in the US. followed by Kia as 8th.

By: reedfast

reedfast — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:08:43 +0000

wow, anybody notice porsche is up! how did that happen

By: DenverGuy217

DenverGuy217 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:03:32 +0000

Jake – I agree with you on the LaCrosse. The only one I have seen so far was around $32k and in white. Never a color I like on a vehicle. The car looked great. It had substance and class. I can easily see it up against the Lexus ES. Loved the interior.

By: RaineMan

RaineMan — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:31:26 +0000

Hey! There are still plenty of Silverados and Tahoes on GM’s lots to go around. They still can’t give those gas-guzzling behemoths away.

By: Smegley Wanxalot

Smegley Wanxalot — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:25:49 +0000

Jake, I’ve seen a couple LaCrosses around, both gray. It seemed less impressive in person on the exterior. Almost common looking, nothing special. Cant speak for the interior though – it does look great in pics.

By: johnnycanuck

johnnycanuck — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:36:43 +0000

Wow, the Aurora. Talk about a stereotypical example of what lead GM to the brink of oblivion. Just how much do you think was invested in that gem to be one and done?

By: JakeK66

JakeK66 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:18:25 +0000

A4, I still see some new Crossfire Roadsters at the dealer by my house… Still asking too much for them, given they are 2+ years old. I did look at a coupe last year at this time and, if I didn’t hate black, it was a steal at $20,000 – for a NEW Mercedes coupe. It’s still probably in my top 5 designs ever, but only as a coupe. Really, it’s going to be a cult classic in 10-15 years, I’d buy one used for $10-15k and just sit on it if I had the cash.

Look at the Koreans!!! WTF!

Denver, I applaud you going out and looking at those three models. I drove a Equinox, though, and came away feeling like it was a GM product – not good – but it looks nice. The Lacrosse I was in was near-base save the convience package and was freakin’ amazing. The best looking interior on a car sub-$50k today – the Chinese really do know how to design a interior! It’s outside was also well done and nothing about it made me think cheap, sort of the way I felt with the original Aurora. It’s a special car.

By: lemonade

lemonade — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:53:53 +0000

@chevydealer09:

By my guess, C4C pulled ahead at least 90 days worth of sales so August is a compression of what you would have seen in Sep, Oct & Nov. On the slightly upside, this gives the General 90 days to stock your showroom full at which point sales will normalize (I hope). Hang in there my friend.

By: lemonade

lemonade — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:42:47 +0000

interesting numbers gta90mike. Thanks for the breakdown.

By: chevydealer09

chevydealer09 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:18:03 +0000

OPEN LETTER to MARK LANEVE, aka the biggest idiot at GM besides Fritz…
“tougher month then anticipated”…….you are so stupid, Mark. The reason your sales are going down dramatically, as are Chryslers, is the simple reason you have cut your dealer network…..all of your terminated dealers have not been able to order product since april, and are now out of units. Your loss of sales are a direct result of you not having your full dealer stable putting out your product. THIS, September, was the first month that you would have felt this reaction to your action. Mark my words, it’s only going to get worse. People won’t drive 45mins to an hr to buy your product, or get service work done. YOU better recognize, Son.

By: A4

A4 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:45:48 +0000

God damn G8, everyone knows Pontiac is dead in the water and they’re still hanging on for dear life. 1000+ sales for a dead model from a dead brand is damn good.
…and Crossfire, what the ****?

By: Bosley

Bosley — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:45:31 +0000

Leftwing, thanks for the link. Interesting, it makes an important distinction between fleet sales and personal sales. Historically some makers sold more fleet vehicles and other more personal ones. If fleet vehicles are selling better, this may prove to be a false signal as ‘regular people’ are still not buying much at all……

By: leftwingagenda

leftwingagenda — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:27:42 +0000

government motors…hurrr hurr hurrrr…

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ford-sept-sales-drop-not-as-bad-as-feared-2009-10-01

an alternative article on the same general theme, but with a different perspective and more of a financial focus…that is, if you’re not too busy beating dead horse jokes to read it

By: CADDY-V

CADDY-V — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:25:32 +0000

@ DenverGuy217-
The SRX is a very hot seller.
At the dealership my friend works at they sold everyone they have got so far, and they did it the day of or the next day the SRX got on the lot.
They can’t get enough of them.They so up get checked, put on the lot and then gone.

By: DenverGuy217

DenverGuy217 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:09:52 +0000

Seeing Acura’s name on the top of this alphabetical list made me chuckle. SO appropriate

The ugly
Acura,

Mercury’s biggest seller is – wait for it- the Grand Marquis. Gee what’s wrong with this picture. Scary

I’m surprised that many of the numbers weren’t even lower. We’ve been to numerous dealers to look at SRXs, Equinoxs and the Lacross and came across just two of these vehicles. Both fresh of the transporter and sold.

By: gta89mike

gta89mike — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:06:08 +0000

GM Core Brands 141,691
Toyota 126,015
Ford 109,939
Honda 77,229
Chrysler 62,197
Nissan 55,393

Domestic Big 3 313,827
Japanese Big 3 258,637

The trend continues. Not counting GM’s dead brands, GM outsells everyone and Americans buy 55,190 more Domestic Big 3 cars than Japanese Big 3. Looks like domestics DO build cars Americans want.

By: MHW

MHW — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:31:12 +0000

GM’s numbers are clearly not good, but if you look at the full picture there not as bad as they first appear. You have to consider the fact that GM was running Employee Pricing for Everyone at this point last year resulting in artificially high numbers for Sept 08. That said with the elimination of 4 brands GM will clearly be looking at negative numbers for some time to come. One bright spot however is that their new product sells are very strong.

By: KarLoveBoy88

KarLoveBoy88 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:07:02 +0000

Oh the dumbasses at LLN… Do you really get paid to write crap news like this? I would think this was a no brainer. My grandma even know this would happen after the government cheated everyone in the cash for clunkers incentive. If anything, the auto makers should have expected it. What will be shocking is if any auto maker continued to show strong sales through the rest of the year.

By: gehrhardt

gehrhardt — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:04:54 +0000

Canadian media outlets are reporting that Ford of Canada’s sales increased by 24% compared to Sept 2008. Apparently Taurus sales are up by 201%.

By: bcjohnso99

bcjohnso99 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:57:20 +0000

Marketshare is the real measure, not YoY or MoM sales.

GM sales are compared to Sept 2008 when they had a massive firesale.

I heard elsewhere that market share is stable or maybe even up.

By: reedfast

reedfast — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:53:43 +0000

LeftLaneNews,
Could you tell us a little bit more about VW, Audi, and Porsche?
I would like to see how German companies are doing, besides Merc and BMW.

By: CADDY-V

CADDY-V — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:46:18 +0000

By the numbers I see so far It looks like GM and their core brands out sold everyone else.
So there is a chance those four brands can keep them at number 2 and mabye move them back up to number 1 in the world.

By: chuckles

chuckles — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:41:50 +0000

Nice, Ford only down 2.1% and market-share up 2% across the board. Look out, they gain more traction every month. Dang, I keep kicking myself, should have bought stock when it was $1.16! Well, at least I got in at $5.20 I think I’ll do ok, they are turned around and will be in the black on profits mid-year. Drove my first eco boost today, what an engine!

By: Smegley Wanxalot

Smegley Wanxalot — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:39:04 +0000

People really seem enamoured with the Government Motors offerings. [/sarcasm]

That BS 60 day test drive gimmick kept their drop to a mere 40% which will be worse that the industry average. Then again, it … uhhhh …. has nothing to do with the fact that no one wants the gov’t crap, right lefties?

By: NavinRJohnson

NavinRJohnson — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:32:21 +0000

I don’t think we’ll really know the results of C4C until Oct/Nov sales are reported. Dealers were really low on inventory in September. I’ve been looking at new cars, and still a month later there are some models where there is 1-2 in a city of 1Mil+.

By: NRG

NRG — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:30:52 +0000

And this is a surprise somehow????????

By: johnnycanuck

johnnycanuck — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:17:54 +0000

They could have hired a blind guy to throw darts and come up with more consistent results than this.

By: Smegley Wanxalot

Smegley Wanxalot — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:08:23 +0000

VDub, obamatards didnt see it coming.

By: VDubFSI

VDubFSI — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:57:47 +0000

Who didn’t see this coming?