Domestic Car Sales Plunge 20.2% During December
Overall late-December sales of North American-made cars fell 20.2% from the same period in 1988, although buyer incentives spurred a rise in light truck sales, the companies reported Thursday.
The period completed a year that saw annual sales fall by about 1 million vehicles from 1988 and--for the first time--saw a car with a foreign auto maker’s nameplate, the Honda Accord, become the nation’s best-selling car.
The figures provided further evidence of the industry recession that has hit the car sales of the Big Three--Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Corp. and General Motors Corp.--especially hard.
The late-December skid was softened by strong light truck sales by Ford and Chrysler, which put incentives on their popular minivans in the middle of the month.
The eight major U.S.-based auto makers said they sold cars and light trucks at an average daily rate of 39,798 during the Dec. 21-31 period, compared to a rate of 44,477 in the same period of 1988.
Truck sales, bolstered by the minivan rebates and low interest rate deals, rose 10%, softening the decline in overall vehicle sales to 10.5%.
In mid- and late-December, 1988, auto makers loaded their dealers with incentive cash to help move cars off showroom floors by year’s end. The selling rate for late December, 1988, was the highest for that year.
But despite the decline in year-to-year comparisons between the periods, analyst Joseph Phillippi of Shearson Lehman Hutton in New York said, “Incentives work on everything. The (selling) pace picked up nicely in the last 10 days.”
In mid-December, 1989, Chrysler slapped incentives on a variety of its vehicles, including first-ever rebates on the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager minivans. Ford followed suit with incentives on its Aerostar minivan.
Chrysler’s light truck sales jumped 19.8% in late December while Ford’s rose 16.1%. Truck sales by GM were down 1.6%.
AUTO SALES
Dec. 21-31 % 1989 change GM 83,217 -29.0 Ford 54,495 -22.4 Chrysler 21,247 -24.1 Honda U.S. 14,785 + 8.2 Mazda U.S. 2,248 +83.7 Mitsubishi U.S. 2,033 * Nissan U.S. 1,818 -41.2 Toyota U.S. 13,162 +57.7 TOTAL 193,005 -20.2
There were 8 selling days in the period this year and 9 last year.
*No comparison possible.
1989 AUTO SALES
Percentage changes in auto sales for 1989 are based on daily rates rather than total sales volume. There were 306 selling days this year and 308 last year.
% change GM 3,276,941 -9.4 Ford 2,099,773 -4.2 Chrysler 917,506 -13.1 Honda US 389,472 +4.4 Mazda U.S. 41,584 +33.6 Mitsubishi U.S. 32,018 * Nissan U.S. 103,134 -7.4 Toyota U.S. 212,388 +195.5 TOTAL 7,072,816 -5.4
*No comparison possible.
