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Automotive Consumer
AUTOS: U.S. Autos Sales Slumped In August
Nearly every major brand shows declines compared with Clunkers-boosted August 2009.
Bob Golfen  |  Posted September 01, 2010   Washington, DC
Buick, including its popular Midsize LaCrosse, is the fastest growing brand in the U.S. with a 61 percent gain this year, according to General Motors. (Photo: Buick)
U.S. auto sales hit the skids during August, dropping to their weakest annualized rate since February with nearly every major automaker showing declines compared with the same month last year.

The overall sales numbers were down 21 percent compared with August 2009, when the Cash for Clunkers program boosted sales for fuel-efficient vehicles and pushed the monthly totals to their highest rate during the devastating year.

Sales for August 2010 were also down slightly from July’s totals, according to the manufacturers’ figures, and the overall gain for the first eight months of 2010 are just eight percent over the dismal results of the same period of 2009, when the economic crisis was in full swing.

Industry analysts had predicted that August sales would slip, although the results seems especially weak compared with the Clunkers-skewed sales of August 2009. The accelerated sales at that time also serve to depress sales now as consumers already have their new vehicles, the analysts say.

Toyota Corolla was the most popular new vehicle purchased in the Cash for Clunkers program, followed by Honda Civic, Toyota Camry, Ford Focus and Hyundai Elantra. (Photo: Toyota)
The August results show a long road ahead for the struggling auto industry as well as the economy in general.

“The same factors depressing the recovery in auto sales over the past year are likely to continue for the foreseeable future, keeping sales in the 12-million unit range even through next year,” Karl Brauer, Edmunds.com senior analyst wrote earlier this week.

Chrysler was one of the few major manufacturers showing a gain compared with August 2009 with a seven percent rise. But that positive score is mitigated by the automaker’s miserable showing last year when it was struggling after bankruptcy with a paucity of new products.

Ford sales dropped 14 percent compared with last year, and GM’s four surviving brands are off by 25 percent, a worse result than predicted by industry forecasters. Most of the loss was for the Chevrolet division because of Clunkers, GM said, with a combined 37 percent gain for Buick, Cadillac and GMC.

Ford’s Mercury division, which goes away after this year, showed a decline of 23 percent despite an incentives push.

Among the leading Asian brands, Honda took a big hit of 33 percent and Toyota was also down 34 percent compared with August 2009, when sales of those brands’ small cars benefited strongly by Clunkers. Toyota also has been struggling with a public-perception problem after its highly publicized series of safety recalls this year.

Nissan sales were down 27 percent, and Mazda saw a drop of 26 percent. Even Subaru, which has been showing strong gains for more than a year as other automakers faltered, had a 23 percent dip in sales. Another sales winner this year that showed a decline in August was Hyundai/Kia, with a 15 percent drop.

The European brands did not fare as poorly compared with the atypical August 2009, with Volkswagen Group losing just three percent, BMW/Mini down two percent and Daimler-Benz, whose Mercedes luxury-car sales were fairly unaffected last year by Clunkers deals, rising seven percent.

The European niche brands showed strong gains for August, with Jaguar/Land Rover up 25 percent, Maserati also up 25 percent and Porsche up a significant 33 percent, partially because of the success of its Panamera luxury sedan.

Suzuki continues to struggle with declining sales, showing a 69 percent decrease for August and a 52 percent drop for the first eight months of the year.

August sales were adversely affected by shaky economic news that kept many fearful consumers out of showrooms, as joblessness and a continuing slump in the housing market showed the possibility of the nation slipping back into the financial doldrums, analysts said.

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