GM, Chrysler mired in the sales blues

THE downward spiral of General Motors and Chrysler continued in the United States last month as vehicle sales of the embattled American companies fell at twice the rate of the overall market as the government wound up its ‘cash-for-clunkers’ sales incentive scheme.

While the US market slid 23 per cent in September compared with the same month in 2008, GM sales plummeted 45 per cent to 282,806 units, while Chrysler volumes were down 42 per cent to 62,197 vehicles.

At the same time, rival Toyota’s volumes fell 13 per cent, Ford sales dipped five per cent and Honda slumped 20 per cent over September 2008.

These falls were on top of large sales declines a year ago when the global financial crisis really began to bite, slicing car sales by 27 per cent in September 2008.

While some of GM’s decline last month can be sheeted home to the winding down of death-row franchises Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn, the alarming reality is that most of the decline came from a 40 per cent slump in Chevrolet sales and a 53 per cent dive in GMC truck volumes.

Left: Ford Focus. Below: Ford Fusion.

One of the few highlights for Chevrolet was the Australian-engineered Camaro sports coupe, which comprised 18 per cent of Chevy passenger car sales.

After nine months of 2009, the US market is running at an annualised rate of 9.5 million units, meaning it has shrunk by seven million units since 2006 when 16.5 million cars and light trucks were sold.

The general market malaise has not slowed a resurgent Hyundai, whose sales soared 27 per cent in the US market last month when its top-sellers – Elantra, Santa Fe and Accent – all made substantial gains.

The Korean car-maker is the only top-10 competitor in the US to have increased volumes in the first three quarters of 2009, with sales up 1.4 per cent to 342,217 units.

By comparison, market leader GM is down 36 per cent year to date, to a nine-month total of 1.5 million vehicles, while second-placed Toyota is down 28 per cent, to 1.3 million cars and light trucks.

Third-placed Ford – the only ‘Big Three’ US car-maker to avoid chapter 11 bankruptcy – missed a gear in September after two year-on-year monthly gains, suffering a five per cent sales slip, to 114,241 units.

However, Ford enjoyed substantial gains in sales of fuel-efficient models such as Focus and Fusion – up 35 and 67 per cent respectively in September. Even the F-Series pickup was up, by 3.5 per cent.

While Blue Oval volumes remain depressed year to date, down 23 per cent, Ford consoled itself with the knowledge that its third-quarter sales were on the right side of the ledger, up five per cent, and that it has gained about two percentage points of market share.

Honda eclipsed Chrysler in September – 77,229 to 62,197 – despite a year-on-year sales decline of 20 per cent. This brought the Japanese manufacturer within just 3000 units of overtaking the Fiat-controlled American company for fourth place year to date (1.183 million units v. 1.180 million).

Despite the red ink on the sales charts, US car industry executives believe better times lie ahead. They say the clunkers scheme, which offered incentives of up to $4500 on new-vehicle trades until September 24, drained stocks of key models.

Said GM’s US sales vice-president, Mark LaNeve: “Fortunately, the fourth quarter looks brighter, and our year-over-year comparisons should look brighter.” Of the minor players in the US market, Subaru continued its good run, up one per cent in September and 10 per cent year to date, but fellow Japanese company Suzuki continued its run of outs, down 54 per cent in September and in line with its YTD decline of 55 per cent.