In America, our improvement was sort of echoed by a small improvement there, but the industry remains very weak.
Chrysler is hopefully about to emerge in a new, slimmer form from bankruptcy and it looks as though General Motors will follow in three month’s time.
US car sales in may were not impacted by the bankruptcy of Chrysler and GM’s woes: both car companies threw money at the selling efforts, and there was no real loss of sales. If anything they were a little higher.
Ford was stronger, Toyota was compared to April, but weak compared to May 2008. (When sales of small cars peaked, which boosted Japanese and Korean makers)
Honda was down, Korean brands did OK as they continue to emphasise their ‘value’.
The best than can be said is that the crunch is easing in the US, although with between 2,000 and 3,000 fewer dealers in coming months and years, the big question now is whether Chrysler and GM will miss sales that will now go to other companies, or whether sales will be lost forever.
US petrol prices are heading higher as the rising price of oil and dropping dollar produce a re-run of the first 9 months of 2008, but at a lower level of price and sales.
Ford Motor Co. estimated that its May sales helped it to climb to its highest market share in three years (in a shrinking market, so it’s all relative).
All the monthly reports from the major car groups suggested they see the slump as having bottomed for them, with economic conditions turning.
They would have been heartened by a 6.7% rise in pending home sales last month reported by America’s real estate agents group. It was the third increase in a row.
Cars and homes are big ticket purchases. Prices of both have fallen, banks are said to be a little easier with their credit.
General Motors said total car and light truck sales fell 29% compared to a year earlier. That was a much narrower decline than forecasts of a 37% fall and above the 33% drop in April.
Chrysler saw sales down 47% from May 2008, but better than the 53.9% drop forecast by analysts. May’s sales were the highest so far in 2009.
Ford said its US sales were the highest since July last year, but 24.3% lower than a year ago. The fall was 32% in April and forecasts centred on a drop of 28%.
Ford said sales of its cars were down 25.5%, but sales of its mid-sized Fusion model were actually up 9.4% last month, the only Ford brand model that rose from last year.
Toyota said its May sales dropped 40.7% from May 2008, slightly worse than analysts’ expectation of a 40.6% fall. But they were up from April, which is a small mercy.
Nissan reported May sales fell 33.1%, and Honda said its sales dropped 41.5% in May, slightly worse than the 39.3% forecasted by analysts.
