Buyer’s remorse is setting in for many of this year’s sudden converts to the gospel of fuel efficiency– if Jonathan Welsh of The Wall Street Journal is to be believed. Of course, some of that might have to do with buyers’ choices. “Fran MacDonald got better fuel economy and maneuverability in traffic when she downsized from her Buick sedan to a tiny Chevrolet Aveo. But the small car was noisier and didn’t ride as smoothly. And then there were the hand-crank windows. ‘I was driving with my mother, and she asked me to put the window down,’ Ms. McDonald says. ‘When I told her she’d have to do it herself, she said, ‘Well, I don’t see a button.'” Once again, a craptastic GM vehicle disappoints and discourages. Fran obviously did zero research before making her purchase. Has there been ANY source which doesn’t rate the Aveo the class dunce? Another unhappy camper is ex-Chevy Suburban owner Blake Schomas, who went for a slightly more efficient Chrysler Pacifica– only to discover that their family of four (plus a friend or two) means no room for luggage. Kind of hard to take the gang on a skiing adventure that way. Others like Rebecca Lindland ditched her Chevy Trailblazer for a MINI, only to discover it was way too small for her tastes. Tacking back the other way, she traded the MINI on a BMW X3. Mr. Schomas, on the other hand, is probably stuck with that Pacifica for a long time. The moral of the story? Darwin wasn’t kidding.
Category: Sales
Featured listing on Hemmings. European version (no side lights, no pop up headlights), and only about 31,000 miles. And of course, a 352 horsepower V12 and 5-speed stick. Yours for a paltry $359,000.
In the same press release in which General Motors revealed its 45 percent October sales hit, The General announced that it had brought forward its [now] annual Red Tag Sale. “We’ll do our part to continue fighting against these significant economic headwinds by bringing consumers the highest quality, most fuel efficient and affordable cars, trucks and crossovers that we can,” GM Marketing Maven Mark LaNeve wrote. [How reassuring is that— given GM’s product development freeze.] “To that end, LaNeve announced that GM’s no-haggle Red Tag Event… will provide great deals on most new vehicles in GM’s portfolio by offering a special Red Tag vehicle price and customer cash back. In addition, GM’s recently announced ‘Financing That Fits’ program enables consumers to find financing at affordable rates from GMAC and thousands of other banks, credit unions and financing institutions.” That’s it? No haggle plus the usual blizzard of incentives, special offers, discounts, rebates, trade-in allowance, finance offers and $2k-off coupons? GM must not have read Steven Lang’s “MSRP RIP.” Meanwhile, The Detroit News reports that Toyota’s extended its “Saved by Zero” zero percent finance offers on 11 vehicles ’til December first. Guess who’s gonna win this one? [make the jump for examples of GM Toe Taggers]
Honda’s press release puts the number at 28.4 percent, but that’s using Daily Selling Rate nonsense. In simple terms, Honda sold 25.2 percent fewer units in calendar October 2008 than in the same period last year; which puts them in the same boat as Toyota. Only two models showed sales upsides: the Honda Fit and Acura TL. The Fit has been capacity constrained forever and is still a relatively modest player at 6,478 units for the month. The TL is likewise a niche vehicle which jumped from 3,421 units last year to 4,340 this October thanks to the all new 2009 TL. But, Acura has two disaster products on it’s hands; the forever poor-selling RL range topper and the near luxury mini-ute RDX. RDX sales collapsed from last year’s already low 1,937 to an abysmal 647 units. Back over at the Honda brand, one surprise in the numbers is the collapse of Accord sales, down from 30,936 to only 19,783, a 36 percent drop in Honda’s #1 selling product. The Odyssey, Element and MDX also all posted larger than average declines. However, for some reason the Ridgeline’s fall was a little less than the average falloff. Cash on the hood effect? Year to date, Honda is still up slightly over 2007, but that record seems likely to fall over these next two months. During the first half of 2008 Honda seemed to be playing in a different ballpark than the rest of the US auto business. But from summer on they have regressed to the mean. But hey, there is one fun-fact buried in the numbers: Honda took sales credit for one unit of the FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. I wonder who the lucky customer is?
It’s the same story for Chrysler: another month, another sad sales chart. Saying that, this month was a little different. Unlike many other carmakers, percentagewise, car sales were down (37 percent) more than truck sales (34 percent). Bright spots: a few extra Vipers (87) and discontinued Crossfires (253) bumped sales numbers up to 142 percent and 128 percent respectively. Challenger sales went up over last month despite the general doom and gloom to 3,104. Ram sales, a mix of 2008 and spanking new 2009’s, were down 21 percent, and another few thousand Journeys launched. Everything else was down, mostly well into the double digit percentages. Confirming suspicions of a stillborn launch, there was absolutely no mention of Durango/Aspen Hybrid sales. Zip. Nada. Total year-to-date sales are down to 26 percent. There are a few recent articles here and there about product tweaks, but the cupboard is bare, and the guillotine is looming.
While unnamed sources in undisclosed locations continue pushing rumors about Chrysler’s marriage plans, the fact that Chrysler’s problems are rooted in one of the worst product lineups on the planet goes largely unnoticed. The AP’s Tom Kishner bucks that trend with his piece [via yahoo] No big sellers in sight to save troubled Chrysler. “Of Chrysler’s 26 models on sale in both 2007 and 2008, only four have sold more this year than last, and three of those are small-volume niche vehicles such as the Dodge Viper. The company’s market share has dwindled from 16.2 percent in 1996 to 11 percent this year, according to Ward’s AutoInfoBank.” The main blame for the heaping pile of losers in Chrysler’s showrooms is spoken auf Deutsch. “‘The truth is Daimler did them no favors,'” said Jim Hall, managing director of 2953 Analytics of Birmingham, Mich. ‘They approved products that previous Chrysler management wouldn’t have approved if they were completely drunk and beaten crazy.'” Cerberus has done nothing to improve matters, and has given up on any plans to lead the turn around of a Once Proud American Company. The best of Chrysler latest products are the new Ram and recent minivan redesign. Nice try, but the redone Ram remains an also ran in the truck wars. Ford and GM certainly aren’t about the cede any share of the already soft truck market. About that much hyped minivan redesign? It has done nothing to salvage Chrysler’s share of an imploding market segment. Minivan sales peaked at over 1.3 million units in 2000, but are expected to end 2008 at less than 650,000. Outside of the Rams and the Vans, things are even worse! Sebring, Nitro, Commander, Avenger, Caliber … the list of crap products goes on and on. Cerberus-Chrysler has more heads on it’s portfolio of dogs than even hell would sit still for.
“General Motors dealers in the United States delivered 170,585 vehicles in October, down 45 percent compared with a year ago. GM truck sales of 97,119 were down 51 percent and car sales of 73,466 were off 34 percent.” And so the death knell sounds for what was once America’s largest automaker, the world’s largest automaker and the world’s most profitable company. As I stated previously, GM is now practically begging for a government bailout. Needless to say, the situation isn’t their fault. “We are obviously disappointed in our results which reflect a difficult comparison with a strong year-ago October performance,” writes Mark LaNeve, vice president, GM North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. “More importantly, it also reflects an unprecedented credit crunch that is dramatically impacting the entire U.S. economy – from the housing market to big and small companies to banks to family run businesses. The credit freeze has also had a very negative impact on consumers’ confidence and their purchase behavior across America.” Oy. Anyway, in the search for good news, GM points to the new fleet queen Malibu, sales of which are up 129 percent, and the truck sales, which are… at 45k. But then GM really reaches, with hybrid numbers that are, frankly, embarrassing…
Anyone fancy a Lexus? Now’s a good time to saunter over to their swanky digs; October sales at Toyota’s luxury division are off by 37.6 percent. With Toyota sales down 24.2 percent, call it a combined 25.9 percent decline. Some notable [non] performers: Camry (down 12.8 percent), Prius (-13.6), Highlander (-29.2) Tundra (-65.4). So what’s up? Corolla (+2.2 percent) and the Sequoia (of all things), up 16.3 percent. Notable from Toyota’s press release: any mention whatsoever of the U.S. economic climate. It’s all business with these guys.
Automotive News [AN sub] reports that The Blue Oval Boyz are getting that sinking feeling. And how. October sales sank 32 percent, “as the industry braced for what may be weakest monthly sales report in 25 years.” AN is, of course, parroting the party line. To wit: “An economic gauntlet, the likes of which haven’t been seen in more than two decades, could not deter Ford’s best-selling F-Series truck,” FoMoCo PR writes. “Ford dealers celebrated Truck Month by delivering 43,324 F-Series in October.” Truck month? Who knew? In Ford’s world, the October sales decline merits a single sentence: “Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales totaled 129,121 in October, down 29 percent compared with a year ago.” Yes, well, unlike our headline, that’s adjusted for sales days. Anyway, if you think that’s bad– and why wouldn’t you– Volvo sales fell 52.1 percent. Make the jump for some specific examples of bad juju.
Our guys on the front line tell us that GM has just launched a nationwide coupon program called “Garage Mate.” The General has mailed an unspecified number of consumers a $2k-off coupon good for every 2008 AND 2009 vehicle The General sells (including the Pontiac G8). The two grand is on top of any and every other available discount. More info as it becomes available.
From GM PR: “Record-setting sales performance in GM’s Latin America, Africa and Middle East and Asia Pacific regions during the third quarter of 2008 helped General Motors sell more than 2.1 million vehicles globally during the third quarter 2008. Compared with the third quarter of 2007, GM’s total sales were down 11.4 percent, reflecting continuing economic pressures in the U.S. market, which pushed North America sales down 18.9 percent, and growing pressure in Europe, where sales were down 12.3 percent. Sales of 1.286 million vehicles outside the U.S. accounted for nearly 61 percent of GM’s total global sales volume compared with just over 56 percent a year ago.” And that’s how you spin ’em boys. Meanwhile, every one of GM’s eight U.S. brands cratered, big time [all stats Q3 losses, year-to-date]: Buick (-19.1), Cadillac (-15.6), Chevrolet (-15), GMC (-19.3), HUMMER (-46.4), Pontiac (-14.7), Saab (-31.9), Saturn (-16.9). Take fleet sales out of that mix, consider discounts relative to profits… There’s blood in the water folks.
“Toyota Motor Corp. trumped General Motors (GM) in total car sales during the first nine months of 2008 to become the world’s top car producer for the first time,” the Mainichi Shimbun reports from Tokyo. “Huh,” say you, “hasn’t ToMoCo trampled GM already?” Not exactly, and not officially. But they are kicking ass and GM to the bottom. Unstoppably, one may add. “GM’s sales between January and September in 2008 were down 5.8 percent to 6,655,751, according to figures released by the company on Wednesday. Toyota’s sales for the same period, including those of subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors, were 7,051,029, almost unchanged from last year,” writes the Tokyo broadsheet with a kuso-eating grin on their faces, in the same sentence dispelling rumors that ToMoCo had contracted the galloping auto trade tuberculosis. [NB: Mainichi is one of the top three Nipponese papers,thick with Japanese politicos. Two of Mainichi’s CEOs became Prime Ministers of the Land of the Rising Corolla.] And yet the fat lady has not sung…
VeeDub in Germany has just issued their numbers for the past nine months of 2008. Viewed through the prevailing “the world is coming to an end” perspective, VW’s financial results are financial pornography, performing better than the male lead in a Russ Meyer movie. We’re talking a 15 percent gain, a money shot of more than $6b pretax. From January to September 2008, VW moved 4.8m units and grabbed a 10.1 percent share of the world market, according to the usually reliable Automobilwoche [sub]. Despite of what’s happening elsewhere in the piston business, Volkswagen’s CFO Hans-Dieter Pötsch stands by his bullish guidance for 2008: the predicted numbers will come true. Elsewhere, China’s automakers have also released profit reports for the third quarter.
Ford tells us that J.D. Power tells them that “30 percent of new vehicle shoppers who walk away from a dealership do so because the dealer did not have the exact vehicle with the colors and options they wanted.” Yeah, right. That what they say… Never mind. As suspicious as this factoid may be, Ford has decided it should use one of them there computer-type things to “determine the vehicle configurations customers in different regions of the country most want.” And once they do that, why not “significantly reduce the number of orderable combinations across its vehicle lineup”? You know; like, I’m thinking… Honda! “For example, the new 2010 Ford Fusion will be available in 104 popular orderable combinations, compared with 2,602 configurations for the 2008 model year. For the entire Ford brand, the company has reduced orderable configurations by 90 percent from the 2008 model year.” No seriously. This makes sense. It’s a good sign the lights are [still] on in Dearborn. Long overdue.
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