Car and Truck Sales Slump 12.1% in Mid-February

Vehicle sales by the major auto makers fell 12.1% in mid-February compared to last year, as January’s minivan buying frenzy appeared to take some steam out of this month’s sales, the companies said Friday.

The eight companies with North American plants reported selling cars and trucks at an average daily rate of 32,258 during the Feb. 11-20 period this year, compared to a rate of 36,687 during the same time last year.

Car sales were down 1.5%, and truck sales, which include minivans, slumped 13%. Truck sales in mid-January, when Chrysler Corp. offered incentives on its popular minivan models, were up 9.4% over the same period the previous year.

The minivan rebates, the first Chrysler ever offered on the popular vehicles, began Dec. 15 and ended Jan. 31.

Combined sales of Chrysler’s minivans--the Dodge Caravan, Plymouth Voyager and Chrysler Town & Country--exceed combined sales of minivans made by General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp., Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp.

“It’s slow this month,” said Alan Helfman, general manager of River Oaks Chrysler-Plymouth in Houston. He said he sold about 100 minivans last month and that he’ll “be lucky to get 30” in February.

In January, car and truck sales by the Big Three, which accounted for about 90% of the sales of North American-built vehicles, were up 4.1%, compared to January of last year. A 2.1% decrease in car sales was offset by a 13.9% increase in truck sales, spurred by the Chrysler minivan rebates.

Mid-February truck sales ran 4.7% behind truck sales during the same period the month before. That’s an indication that some people who had planned to buy minivans in February may have bought in January instead to take advantage of the incentives.

“They bought everything for the next six months because of that,” Helfman said of the rebates.

So far this year, car sales for the eight companies were running 1.3% ahead of last year’s pace and truck sales were up 5.9%. That works out to a combined car and truck sales pace 3% ahead of last year’s rate.

VEHICLE SALES

Feb. 11-20 % 1990 change GM* 113,521 -16.0 Ford* 79,409 -14.7 Chrysler* 39,999 -17.6 Honda U.S. 8,872 +12.6 Mitsubishi U.S. 692 +59.8 Nissan U.S.* 5,803 + 3.9 Toyota U.S. 8,490 +295.8 Mazda U.S. 1,277 +56.1 TOTAL 258,063 -12.1

* Includes light truck sales

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