U.S. Car, Truck Sales Fall 21.3% in Mid-Month

Sales of North American-made cars dropped 21.3% in mid-December from a year earlier, when consumers thronged to dealerships to take advantage of incentives, auto makers reported Tuesday.

The eight major U.S. auto makers said they sold cars and light trucks at an average daily rate of 28,417 during the Dec. 11-20 period last year, compared to a rate of 34,921 during the same time the year before.

The Big Three--General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp.--were hit the hardest, with their sales falling 22% during the period. Sales during the period for autos made in the United States by foreign manufacturers mostly were higher.

Sales of light trucks fell 14% during the period, bringing total vehicle sales down 18.6%.

During December, 1988, consumers flocked to showrooms to buy vehicles before incentives expired on Dec. 31. That pushed the selling rate for mid- and late-December to its highest of the year.

Incentives also were in effect during December, 1989, but they didn’t spark the same kind of demand as they did a year earlier.

“The problem is you’ve got a tired market,” said auto analyst Joseph Phillippi of Shearson Lehman Hutton of New York. “You’re facing a market that’s at least partially saturated.”

Since 1985, more than 77 million new cars and trucks have been sold in the United States, or about one for every three Americans.

Furthermore, experts say the slowdown of the U.S. economy has contributed to the auto industry slowdown, as consumers curtail or delay major purchases.

“They’ve bought so many cars over the past five or six years and they are still paying for them,” said analyst Mary Anne Sudol of Fitch Investors Service Inc. in New York.

“I think it’s pretty weak right now,” Sudol said.

With just one 10-day sales period left in 1989, car and truck sales for the eight auto makers were 3.7% behind the 1988 pace. Domestic and overseas auto makers report their end-of-the-year sales figures Thursday.

Car sales for 1989 through Dec. 20 ran 4.8% behind the previous year, and truck sales were down 1.6%.

Ford’s mid-December combined car and truck sales fell 25.2% from a year earlier. Ford’s car sales were off 33.2%; light truck sales were down 12.2%.

Chrysler’s vehicle sales for mid-December were down 22.8%, with car sales falling 33.7% and light truck sales dropping 11.3%.

GM car and truck sales fell 19.5% in mid-December, compared to a year earlier. Car sales fell 21.6%; truck sales were down 15.3%.

AUTO SALES

Dec. 11-20 % 1989 change GM 73,157 -21.6 Ford 40,688 -33.2 Chrysler 20,140 -33.7 Honda U.S. 11,243 +49.3 Mazda U.S. 985 +41.9 Mitsubishi U.S. 702 * Nissan U.S. 1,491 -45.6 Toyota U.S. 7,016 +233.1 TOTAL 155,422 -21.3

There were 9 selling days in the selling period this year and 8 last year.

* No comparison possible.