Auto Sales Up a Meager 5% - Analyst Blog
September 02 2011 - 12:02PM
Zacks
Light vehicle sales in the U.S. increased a tad 5% to a
seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 12.10 million vehicles in
August from 11.52 million vehicles in the same month last year. All
the major automakers posted a double-digit rise in sales except
Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) and Honda Motor
Corp. (HMC).
The meager rise in sales was attributable to hurricane Irene
hitting the sales of East Coast dealerships, lower discounts and
incentives spending as well as disruptions in parts supply caused
by the March disaster in Japan.
Auto information site Edmunds.com estimated that at least 10,000
sales were lost due to Irene. According to car pricing site
TrueCar.com, total incentive spending per vehicle went down 4% to
$2,663 per vehicle in August.
U.S. Automakers
Sales at General Motors Co. (GM) rose 18.2% to
218,479 vehicles. Impressive sales of Chevrolet Cruze car (which
surpassed 20,000 units for the fifth straight month), Chevrolet
Equinox (54% gain) and GMC Terrain (88%) crossovers drove the
overall sales gain during the month.
Sales at Ford Motor Co. (F) grew 11.3% to 175,220 vehicles
driven by strong demand for fuel-efficient cars. Ford brand sales
increased 16%, while Lincoln brand sales surged 25%.
Sales at
Chrysler Group LLC, controlled by Italy’s
Fiat
SpA (FIATY), surged 30.6% to 130,119
vehicles. It was the best monthly sales figure for Chrysler since
2007.
Japanese
Automakers
Sales at
Toyota dipped 12.7% to 129,483 vehicles due to the shortages in
parts supply caused by the twin disaster in Japan. Sales of its
popular Prius hybrid slid 20%, while Corolla sales fell 19%. Sales
of Camry decreased 2%. The company’s new versions of the Camry go
on sale next month.
Sales at
Honda tumbled 24.3% to 82,321 vehicles due to the same reason.
Sales of its best-selling Civic model plummeted 47% to 12,083
units, while sales of Accord and CR-V fell 24.3% and 14.8%,
respectively.
However,
sales at Nissan Motor
Co. (NSANY) appreciated 19.2% to 91,541
vehicles during the month under study. Nissan Division sales grew
22.4% to 82,517 units while Infiniti vehicles sales fell 4.3% to
9,024 units. The company’s sales were boosted by the launch of the
all-new Versa sedan.
Looking
Ahead
Auto sales
are expected to recover once cash-back offers, low-interest loans
and other attractive deals are expected to begin and Japanese
automakers replenish their supplies in September and
October.
The market
conditions expect to normalize this fall. However, we are still
worried about the high unemployment rate (9%) and surging food and
clothing costs as well as consumer confidence, which have dropped
to its lowest level in more than two years in August.
FORD MOTOR CO (F): Free Stock Analysis Report
FIAT SPA (FIATY): Free Stock Analysis Report
GENERAL MOTORS (GM): Free Stock Analysis Report
HONDA MOTOR (HMC): Free Stock Analysis Report
NISSAN ADR (NSANY): Free Stock Analysis Report
TOYOTA MOTOR CP (TM): Free Stock Analysis Report
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