Vehicle Sales Fall in Early September

By John O’Dell

Sept. 16, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Passenger vehicle sales in the U.S. dropped 12% in the first 11 days of September, although Southern California-based Japanese auto importers saw their sales jump, according to a study by J.D. Power & Associates.

Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. both posted healthy market share increases, each outselling DaimlerChrysler through Sept. 11.

“If that trend holds for the whole month it would be remarkable,” said J.D. Power analyst Tom Libby, because it would mark the first time that Honda had outsold Chrysler in the United States.

The Power report also indicated a decrease in consumer interest in the domestic automakers’ employee discount pricing plans.

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler took the biggest hits, all dropping retail market share compared with the first 11 days of September 2004.

Employee discount sales, started by GM in June and picked up by Ford and Chrysler in July, are continuing through September. But after spurring big summer sales for the U.S. brands, they have depleted inventories and left little for September shoppers to pick from, Libby said.

Additionally, soaring gas prices after Hurricane Katrina have damped interest in the large sport utility vehicles that are a big part of GM and Ford sales.

GM held on to its top spot with a 19.1% share of retail passenger vehicle sales through Sept. 11, down from 25.6% a year earlier; Ford was second with a 17.3% share, down from 18.4%; followed by Toyota at 15.5%, up from 13.6%.

Other top automakers were fourth-place Honda at 13.2%, up from 10.5%; DaimlerChrysler at 12.7%, down from 12.9% a year earlier; and Nissan Motor Co. at 8%, up from 6.7%.

J.D. Power & Associate’s early analysis doesn’t provide actual sales numbers and doesn’t include fleet sales -- mostly by U.S. automakers -- to rental companies and corporations. They can account for 20% of total monthly passenger vehicle sales.

The GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler tallies include the companies’ domestic and import brands combined.