New-Car Sales Increase 5.8% During April
Demand for new cars remained strong throughout April as consumers purchased 5.8% more automobiles than in April last year, the U.S. auto companies reported Friday.
The seven domestic manufacturers--General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, American Motors, Volkswagen of America, American Honda and Nissan U.S.--delivered 788,281 new cars in April, a 5.1% increase over April, 1984, when they sold 721,091 units.
There were 26 selling days in April this year, one more than in 1984; year-to-year percentage changes are based on a daily selling rate.
Of the domestic auto makers, only Ford, Chrysler and Honda reported increases over year-ago sales for the month. Nissan, which began building cars in the United States in March, reported its domestic sales for the first time in this period.
Although Ford, Chrysler, GM and AMC had incentive programs in effect that were due to end in April, the four companies announced this week that they would continue to offer discount financing on certain models.
“The boom rolls on, but it looks as if the domestic manufacturers are having to push a bit to keep things rolling,” said analyst Dave Healy of Drexel Burnham Lambert.
Americans bought an estimated 199,000 imported automobiles in April, an 8.9% increase over last year. Imports accounted for 20.2% of the total U.S. auto market.
Auto analysts said current import sales do not reflect the impact of the relaxation of Japan’s export quotas. Due to production and distribution constraints, they predicted that an increased presence by the Japanese auto manufacturers will not be felt in the U.S. market until the third or fourth quarter of this year.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, new-car sales by domestic manufacturers in April equaled an 8.5-million rate, compared to an 8.1-million rate in April, 1984.
Imports sold at a seasonally adjusted rate of 2.3 million, bringing the industry total to 10.8 million in April.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate is a calculation of the number of cars that would be sold if April’s pace were to continue for a full year.
Auto Sales Percentage changes in auto sales for the month of April are based on daily rates rather thantotal sales volume. There were 26 selling days in the 1985 period and 27 selling days in the year-ago period.Total import sales are estimated based on incomplete reports.
April 1985 1984 change GM 450,608 435,908 -0.6 Ford 191,311 164,055 +12.1 Chrysler 112,621 86,924 +24.6 AMC 11,822 14,924 -23.8 VW U.S. 6,585 7,119 -11.2 Honda U.S. 14,067 12,161 +11.3 Nissan U.S. 1,267 DOMESTIC 788,281 721,091 +1.5 Toyota 42,942 31,971 +29.2 Nissan 29,928 30,357 +5.2 Honda 36,447 27,850 +25.8 Mazda 10,170 11,229 -12.9 Subaru 13,709 11,427 +15.3 Volvo 9,205 10,023 -11.8 VW Imports 11,165 9,926 +8.1 Others * 45,434 42,917 +1.7 IMPORTS * 199,000 175,700 +8.9 TOTAL U.S. 987,281 896,791 +5.8
*Estimate
