U.S. Car Sales Up 4.1% in Mid-Month Despite Freeze
Sales of new U.S.-built automobiles continued at a robust pace in mid-January, despite frigid temperatures in much of the country. The domestic auto makers reported Wednesday that sales in the Jan. 11 to 20 period rose 4.1% from last year’s levels.
“We’re in an up trend,” said David Healy, an auto analyst at Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. in New York.
The six U.S. auto producers said they sold 168,668 new cars in mid-January, compared to 182,273 in the same period last year, a 4.1% increase based on daily selling rates. There were eight selling days this year and nine in the year-ago period.
The daily selling rate of 21,084 is the best for the period since the industry sold 23,390 cars in mid-January, 1973.
Still, sales were down from early January’s extraordinarily high level. On a seasonally adjusted basis, sales for the period equaled an annual rate of 8.4 million cars, down from early January’s rate of 9.1 million. The combined annual rate for the first 20 days of 1985 was a strong 8.7 million, a sales level that analysts believe cannot be maintained because of the limited production capabilities of American auto producers.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate is a reflection of the number of cars that would be sold if the current rate continued for a full year.
Philip E. Benton, vice president for sales at Ford Motor Co., said postponed deliveries due to severe weather conditions contributed to the company’s 2.4% sales decline in the period.
“Those postponed deliveries, and our above-trend market share in the sales period last year, affected our year-to-year comparison,” Benton said.
Auto Sales Percentage changes in auto sales for the second 10 days of January are based on daily rates rather than the total sales volume. There were 8 selling days in the 1985 period and 9 selling days in the year-ago period. Total import sales are estimated on incomplete reports. 10-Day
Jan. 11-20 Jan. 11-20 % 1985 1984 change GM 99,016 104,545 +6.5 Ford 41,012 47,294 -2.4 Chrysler 21,702 21,573 +13.2 AMC* 3,125 4,200 -16.3 VW U.S. 1,313 2,241 -34.1 Honda U.S. 2,500 2,420 +16.3 TOTAL 168,000 182,273 +4.1
*Estimate
