Auto Sales Rise 12.7% in Mid-September

Auto sales by the eight major U.S. manufacturers soared 12.7% in mid-September over last year, the companies said Monday, with much of the gain due to a strong showing by General Motors Corp.’s light trucks.

Sales of GM trucks from Sept. 11-20 were 46% higher than during the same period last year. GM spokesman Terry Sullivan said the increase covered nearly all GM truck lines.

Overall, cars and light trucks sold at an average daily rate of 37,948 in mid-September, compared to a 33,670 vehicle-a-day rate last year. Car sales were up 10.2%, and truck sales rose 17.1%.

Nearly 38% of the vehicles sold during the period were light trucks, a higher percentage than in previous periods.

GM offered its dealers large rebates on some of the trucks and recently boosted incentives on some cars, said Bill Meier, general manager of Ray Green Chevrolet in Jacksonville, Ill. That’s helping move out 1989s to make room for 1990 models, which are heading off assembly lines and toward dealers now.

Ron Glantz, an analyst with Montgomery Securities Inc. in San Francisco, said in addition to the incentives on vehicles made by GM and other manufacturers, price increases due on 1990 vehicles also are pushing consumers into buy-now thinking.

“The industry has an above average amount of inventory, there are unprecedented incentives and a whopping price increase for the 1990s,” Glantz said. “(Sales) are going to fall off a cliff in October.”

Meanwhile, GM on Monday confirmed plans to temporarily idle more than 18,000 hourly workers at seven U.S. assembly plants for between one and three weeks to trim inventories of unsold cars and light trucks.

So far this year, car and truck sales by the eight manufacturers are down 1.5% compared to the same 1988 period. A 0.4% increase in truck sales was more than offset by a 2.6% decline in car sales.

GM’s mid-September car and truck sales jumped 21.7% from the same period last year, with cars up 11.2% and truck sales climbing 46%.

AUTO SALES

Sept. 11-20 % 10-Day 1989 change GM 106,780 +11.2 Ford 56,347 +2.6 Chrysler 28,098 +2.1 Honda U.S. 11,033 +64.7 Mitsubishi U.S. 1,422 * Nissan U.S. 1,912 -56.3 Toyota U.S. 5,445 +215.1 Mazda U.S. 929 -12.2 TOTAL 211,966 +10.2

*No comparison available.

There were nine selling days in the period this year and eight selling days last year.