More morning after meshugas: May sales stats reresent the first time in history that the transplants' sales have overtaken Detroit. The International Tribune is the bearer of sad tidings. "General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler combined for a record low market share of 44.4 percent, compared with 48.1 percent for 10 Asian brands, according to the Autodata Corporation, the industry statistics firm. Toyota Motor of Japan pulled to within 10,000 vehicles of overtaking GM in United States sales, and Honda posted its highest monthly sales total ever." The Trib also confirms TTAC's Best and Brightest's explanation for the 39.8 percent drop in Priora sales. "The head of Toyota Motor sales, Bob Carter, said the company had been hindered by production constraints and that its most fuel-efficient cars, including the Prius hybrid sedan, were selling as quickly as they could be built. 'Dealer stock for Prius is best measured in hours rather than days,' Carter said." In other words, if ToMoCo had more Priora, they would have sold more retail vehicle than GM in May. Responding to his employer's catastrophic sales collapse, GM marketing maven Mark LeNeve was characteristically upbeat– in a completely downbeat sort of way. "We're somewhere near the bottom," LaNeve said.
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
Here’s another possible explanation for the Prius sales drop…Worldwide demand is exploding, and Toyota decides to supply more to the European market due to higher profit margins on Euro sales vs. Dollar sales on a Japanese-built car. If all of them are being sold regardless of where they are being sent, then it makes sense to ship them to whoever is paying the most for them.
“We’re somewhere near the bottom,”
Hmmm, sounds like the words of a grave digger.
I just cannot fathom why someone would take his or her hard-earned money to invest in a Corolla, Civic, or Camry. Just the most boring hunks of junks ever to be designed, the ultimate in conformity, blandness, and underwhelmingness (?). None of them significantly beat the new (and underdesigned) Focus, Cobalt XFE, or Mazda3 in any category that means anything. But then again, I do not understand how 18 million people voted for Hillary Clinton.
*Sigh*
“We’re somewhere near the bottom,”
Hmmm, sounds like the words of a grave digger.
I was thinking more of someone drowning and hoping desperately to touch bottom.
Maybe its because
A It is their hard earned money and
B They don’t hail from Detroit
My monm worked for the city of Tampa and my Dad worked for the county and in the 20 years after my Dad retired in 1980 they actually made a million dollars through being frugal and investing wisely in stocks and real estate.
Their last car was a Corrola and the one before that was a Plymouth Aclaim.
Simple dependable and no frills appeal to a lot of people.
How is it that the 3 domestics and 10 asian brands (there are 10 asian brands?) add up to 92.5% of the market? That doesn’t leave a lot for ze Germans.
In regards to the prius sales numbers, I stumbled across this on the tulsa craigslist today
http://tulsa.craigslist.org/car/704881150.html
that’s a dealership 4hrs north of here bragging they can get me a prius at msrp with only the options I choose in just 4-12 weeks. Smells like a shortage to me.
trlstanc
It sounds about right, you’ve got:
Toyota, Scion, Lexus, Nissan, Infiniti, Honda, Acura, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Suzuki and Subaru. That’s 11!
Also, don’t forget, that the “3 domestics” have a shed load of brands too:
Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Pontiac, GMC, Buick, SAAB, Saturn, Hummer (for now), Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep.
On the German side we have:
VW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Mini.
4 of which are luxury or niche brands, while the other is a mainstream brand, but no-one cares for.
So, yeah, sounds totally plausible to me…..
“In other words, if ToMoCo had more Priora, they would have sold more retail vehicle than GM in May”
…and if the Queen had…
“in the 20 years after my Dad retired in 1980 they actually made a million dollars through being frugal and investing wisely in stocks and real estate.”
Which happens to be the usual method by which ordinary people achieve a net worth of a million or more. Despite all our society does to discourage it.