Automotive News [sub] reports that Mitsubishi will have to give UAW workers at its Normal, Ill plant a $1.60/hr raise because it doesn’t yet know what vehicle or platform it plans to build there in the future. Mitsubishi’s 2008 contract with the UAW required the disclosure, but the Japanese automaker requested an extension which the union membership proceeded to vote down. Because the extension failed, Mitsubishi is required by the terms of its contract to raise hourly pay to $25.60/hr. The plant in question currently builds Mitsubishi Eclipse, Endeavor and Galant models, which have collectively sold 11,215 units through August of this year. And thanks to the combination of low demand for Normal-built products, and the union’s failure to extend the decision period, it seems as though Mitsubishi may just walk away from the plant.
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The Japanese “Big Three” automakers all saw significant sales drops in August, thanks to similarly large increases in August 2009 sales spurred by Cash For Clunkers. Toyota/Lexus/Scion sales fell 34 percent, as Camry and Corolla crashed down from insane C4C volumes of 54,936 and 43,061 respectively. Only Avalon, Sienna, 4Runner/FJ Cruiser and Sequoia gained year-over-year last month for the Toyota brand, while lower-volume Lexus models like HS, LS, SC, GX and LX were the firm’s sole luxury gainers. As a brand, Scion sold only 4,012 units. Honda’s Accord and Civic mirrored the Camry/Corolla’s drop, as Odyssey and Pilot were the only Honda-branded gainers. Acura RL, MDX and RDX were all up on the month, and Honda/Acura ended up with a 33 percent decline overall. Nissan saw sales growth from Maxima, Titan, Xterra, Pathfinder, Armada, and Murano.Conversely,  G37 Coupe and FX were the the only Infiniti models failing to outperform August 2009 sales, resulting in an overall 27 percent drop. Full numbers after the jump…

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Subaru and Hyundai/Kia have been two of the strongest-growing brands in America over the past year or so, but even their momentum wasn’t enough to prevent “uh-oh” moments this month. Subaru sales fell 23 percent, despite another strong showing from Outback (+37%, 8,053). Forester and Impreza, which launched Subaru to a 52% sales jump last August, were down  39 and 42 percent respectively. Hyundai was another big winner in last year’s C4C sales glut, and its volume was down considerably by comparison last month. Accent and Santa Fe were down by 50 percent or more, but the redesigned Sonata did manage to nearly double its August 09 volume. Even Genesis was up (as was Tucson), but Hyundai still ended the month with a 11 percent overall sales decline. The biggest contributor: Accent, which sold 3,844 compared to 10,099 in August 2009. Kia fell about 23 percent, as Forte, Sorento, Sedona and Soul gains were offset by huge declines in Rio, Spectra, Optima and Sportage. Full numbers after the jump…

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Sales of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles fell 10.7 in August, as Ford’s success in last August’s Cash-For-Clunkers sales binge hurt year-over-year comparisons. And though that gives Ford a good excuse for its first year-over-year monthly sales decline since September 2009, the Blue Oval was down compared to last month as well (157,503 compared to 166,092). Mercury continued its death spiral, falling 22.5 percent, but Lincoln clawed back for a 9.4 percent bump. But things at Ford live and die by the Blue Oval brand, which was down 10.5 percent. Trucks performed best for the Ford brand, climbing 5 percent, but Utes were down 26.6% and Cars dropped 15.7 percent.

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Chrysler was one of the few firms that didn’t see much of a bump from last August’s Cash-for-Clunkers programs (due, it claimed at the time, to inventory shortages), and as a result it’s one of the few firms that actually increased sales this August. The Chrysler brand still dropped 4 percent, with only Sebring (+79%, 4,498 units) and T&C (+26%, 9,472) posting year-over-year gains. Jeep saw improvements across its nameplates (for a total volume increase of 17 percent), with only Grand Cherokee (-17%, 6,393) and Commander (-74%, 348) failing to beat their August 2009 numbers. Dodge was up 8 percent, with Caliber (+32%, 5,347), Nitro (+66%, 2,505) and sportscars leading the way. Both Ram (+8%, 18,995) and Dakota (+55%, 1,583) were up, but declines in Sprinter sales dragged Ram-brand sales down to a mere five percent increase. Unlike GM however, Chrysler did not release its fleet sales numbers. On the other hand, Chrysler Group did finally meet its 95k monthly “survival volume,” selling a total of 99,611 vehicles. By Chrysler standards, that’s as good as sales news gets. Full numbers after the jump…

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This was the Ooops month, previously called August. Before you get a heart attack from looking at the numbers, keep in mind that they are comparing with “Crazy August” of 2009, U.S. light vehicle sales were driven nearly up to the good old days of 2008 by Cash for Clunkers, only to drop 23 percent the next month. What we see this month is  a flashback of the withdrawal effects of 2009. All of this had (hopefully) been factored-in by analysts, but the numbers are coming in worse than expected.

If you don’t want to be sidetracked by the base effect of one crazy month, look at the rightmost column for the bigger picture: Up a bit for the year, but not by a whole lot.

The following list is complete. All precincts have reported. Read More >

Sales of GMs core brands dropped 10.6 percent in August compared to their Cash-For-Clunkers-fueled August 2009 performance, but overall sales were down 25 percent. Because the C4C program helped The General shift more value-oriented models, Buick was up 66 percent, Cadillac was up 83 percent, and GMC was up 12.3 percent, while Chevrolet shed 21.5 percent.

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Japanese citizens raced to showrooms in August and bought cars as if they are going out of style. Domestic sales of new cars, trucks and buses increased 46.7 percent from the same month in the year prior. There is a reason to this: Cars will be going out of style in Japan any moment now … Read More >

The fate of the car industry depends highly on the price of oil. Higher oil prices, lower car sales. Lower oil prices, higher cars sales. Everywhere but Russia.

Russia’s main export is energy. Oil and gas. When oil climbed, the Russians were rolling in money and bought cars like crazy. Then came 2008. Oil crashed. The market crashed. Russian oligarchs went bankrupt. The car market followed. Unit sales of passenger cars dropped 50 percent last year. The annual Moscow Motor Show was cancelled. Automakers were worried about their investments into the Russian market. The Russians tried to protect their industry, raised import tariffs. The market plummeted more. Now, all of this is ancient history. Read More >

A year ago, BYD issued the startling announcement that “it’s our company’s long-term target, to be China’s No. 1 automaker by 2015 and to be the world’s leading car maker by 2025.” Meaning that they would have to unseat either Volkswagen or Toyota. When they said that, polite analysts in China opined that BYD’s dream was  “realistic” because China and other Asian markets show more promise for growth than the relatively mature US and European markets. In private, people were wondering what drinks they were serving at BYD’s cafeteria.

Now BYD spokesman Lin Mi told Beijing’s Global Times that they may have been a bit overconfident. Read More >

It’s not just the Tokyo stock market that is worried about worse than expected August numbers. Back home, the public is being prepared for shocking numbers. “We are crawling around,” said Jesse Toprak of TrueCar to Reuters. “It feels like we got a dead car to jump-start but we just can’t get it to go over 20 miles an hour.” Just as GM  prepares its IPO, industry watchers see more evidence of a slower-than-expected industry recovery. Read More >

Edmund’ Bill Visnic takes on the latest Harbour report, which finds North American auto plants running at an average of 58 percent capacity (even Europe, the global whipping boy for intractable auto overcapacity operates at an average 81 percent). Despite the recent downsizings across North America, the Harbour Report still estimates that 3.5m units of annual overcapacity remains in the US and Canadian auto manufacturing footprint, equivalent to 14 unneeded assembly plants. A rise in sales levels to the previous 15-16m mark could help the situation according to the report, but increased plant flexibility will be the factor that automakers can actually control. Even so, if 15-16m annual units don’t come soon, North America could be looking at more plant closures and job losses.

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If you think Toyota has problems, you sure can’t see them on their monthly report.  Toyota just released sales and production numbers for July,  and they look beauteous: Read More >

Edmunds is tracking an $1,800 average increase in the price of used cars, as new-car sales have faltered with the shaky economy. But the increase in prices isn’t solely due to Americans tightening their belts and buying used instead of new. The biggest price increases by nameplate appear to be for large SUVs and vans like the Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Suburban, Dodge Grand Caravan, BMW X5 and Acura MDX. Edmunds senior analyst Joe Spina explains

So many economic factors affect automobile sales and prices. It’s believed that the program delayed purchases prior to the program and also pulled sales forward while in place. The program also eliminated inventory of older vehicles that were traded and then scrapped… Now, those who need trucks and large SUVs are buying them and in many cases are turning to used vehicles as a way to save money. Prices are high because this demand comes at a time when inventory is low as a result of the current shortage of lease returns and trade-ins for vehicles of this type.

Edmunds’ “Large SUV” segment shows prices up by nearly $7k per vehicle (over July 2009), compared to increases of less than $500 per vehicle for midsize and compact cars over the same period. Gas prices, meanwhile, are nearly unchanged from July of last year. Clearly something is affecting the price of used SUVs… if it’s not Cash-For-Clunkers, what is it?

Did we say that the Russian market is on the rebound with a vengeance? Nissan agrees. Nissan will raise its Russian auto sales target for fiscal 2010 to 100,000 units, up 120 percent from last fiscal year, COO Toshiyuki Shiga told The Nikkei [sub] today. Nissan’s SUVs are selling so briskly that Nissan has trouble keeping up with the demand. Read More >