Vehicle Sales Fall 9.9% in Last 10 Days of February : Autos: Although sales were up 2% for the month, the late slide indicates an industry recovery is still elusive.
Although auto sales rose a slim 2% for all of February, analysts said a 9.9% sales decrease the last 10 days of the month indicates that the hoped-for industry rally has yet to materialize.
“We’re in nearly as bad a situation as we were when we were in a war,” said Thomas O’Grady, president of Integrated Automotive Resources, a consulting firm in Wayne, Pa. “That’s nothing to write home and celebrate about.”
The auto industry said Wednesday that it sold 974,956 domestic and imported cars and trucks in February--an annual rate of 12.5 million. That is a modest improvement over January’s 11.8-million rate, but well below the 13.3-million rate the industry glimpsed in September before slipping back into the doldrums.
Sales the last 10 days of February might have been worse were it not for a small spurt caused by several Japanese makers’ announcements of price increases, analysts said.
“Any salesman worth his salt is going to remind the customer if he doesn’t buy now it’s going to cost him a lot more in three weeks,” said Joseph Phillippi, who follows the auto industry for Shearson Lehman Bros. in New York. “That’s clearly helping import sales.”
As of March 1, Honda jacked up prices an average of $252 a vehicle, while Nissan prices went up about 3%, or $432 a vehicle. Toyota’s price hike of $432 a vehicle is set for March 13.
If looming price increases persuaded some consumers to buy early, some dealers worry that sales will drop off now that most of the increases have taken effect.
Still, several battle-weary auto makers and dealers saw signs of hope in the seemingly unforgiving numbers. J. B. Fitzpatrick, General Motors Corp.’s vice president for communications and marketing, noted that February was the second month in a row that the auto industry has reported a year-over-year increase in sales.
“This improvement in the first two months of 1992 offers a hopeful sign that the economy is about to pick up and that a steady improvement in new-vehicle sales will continue,” Fitzpatrick said.
Jack MacDonald, general manager of Giant Moon Nissan, said the 21 dealerships at the Cerritos Auto Square sold 509 vehicles last weekend, a four-month record.
“The buying mood is on the rise,” MacDonald said. “We’re seeing more showroom traffic now than we’ve seen in months.”
There was little sign that the “Buy American” movement has hurt Japanese vehicle sales, as the Big Three U.S. auto firms and the nine Japanese auto makers selling vehicles in the United States posted comparable increases of 3.2% and 2.7% respectively.
GM posted a 4.3% increase in sales of cars and light trucks, while Ford Motor Co. said sales inched up 2.1% and Chrysler Corp., buoyed by a 20% jump in truck sales, reported a climb of 2.3% over February 1991.
Toyota sales for February were 14.9% over the same period last year. Honda said sales increased 15%, while Nissan posted a more modest 8.6% rise.
Auto Sales Increase in February
Seasonally adjusted annualized rates of sales of domestically produced cars and trucks, including those built in the United States by Japanese auto makers. The figures use seasonal patterns to predict the auto industry’s sales rate over a full year.
Domestic / Import 1991 Feb.: 11.8 Mar.: 12.4 Apr.: 11.2 May: 12.4 June: 12.9 July: 13.1 Aug.: 12.6 Sep.: 13.3 Oct.: 12.0 Nov.: 12.5 Dec.: 13.2 1992 Jan.: 11.8 Feb.: 12.5 Source: Commerce Department
