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note: MARCH U.S. AUTO SALES % YTD Company Sales Change Change General Motors 345,418 -4.0% -5.5% Ford Motor 264,975 -9.0% -13.0% Toyota Motor 242,675 12.0% 11.0% Chrysler Group 206,435 -4.6% -4.4% Honda Motor 143,392 11.0% 6.1% |
General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. said March U.S. sales fell as they cut deliveries to rental- car companies and as demand declined for pickups and sport- utility vehicles. Asian automakers posted an 11 percent gain.
GM's sales declined 4.2 percent from a year earlier, and the company widened its production cut for this quarter. Ford today reported a 9 percent drop, while DaimlerChrysler AG's slid 4.1 percent, led by Chrysler, which may be losing customers because it's for sale. Deliveries rose 12 percent at Toyota Motor Corp., 11 percent at Honda Motor Co. and 7.8 percent at Nissan Motor Co.
GM and Ford, the two largest U.S. automakers, are trying to boost profit by paring sales to fleet customers including rental- car companies that get discounts for buying in bulk. The strategy is helping Asia-based rivals led by Toyota gain U.S. market share. Fleet sales accounted for 27 percent of Detroit-based GM's total and 32 percent of Ford's in 2006.
``There is a balancing act, but certainly Toyota is continuing to put the full-court press on all competitors in the market,'' Michael Robinet, an analyst at CSM Worldwide Inc. in Farmington Hills, Michigan, said in an interview.
The industry's annualized sales rate fell to 16.3 million cars and light trucks from 16.6 million in March 2006, according to Autodata Corp. The number of vehicles sold rose 0.8 percent to 1.54 million, including a 4 percent increase for cars and a 1.9 percent decline for pickup trucks, SUVs and minivans.
The U.S. market share of GM, Ford and Chrysler fell to 51.6 percent from 55.2 percent a year earlier, Autodata said. Asian automakers' share rose to 41.9 percent from 38.1 percent.
Chrysler
DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche may give an update on Chrysler's future tomorrow in Berlin. He said Feb. 14 that ``all options are on the table,'' including a sale of the unit, after Chrysler posted a $1.5 billion loss last year.
``The continued talks of a Chrysler separation from its parent have had a negative impact on both showroom traffic as well as dealers' enthusiasm to push the product,'' Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst John Murphy wrote in a March 26 report. The New York-based analyst doesn't rate DaimlerChrysler shares.
DaimlerChrysler's March sales dropped to 228,047 from 237,829 a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Chrysler sales fell 4.6 percent and Mercedes sales rose about 1 percent.
GM, Ford
Sales at GM, the world's largest automaker, declined to 349,867 cars and trucks from 365,375, including an 8.6 percent drop for the Chevrolet Silverado large pickup, the best-selling vehicle last month and second best in 2006. The Detroit-based company's light-truck sales fell 7.7 percent, while its car sales rose 2.3 percent.
GM also said it plans to produce 6.2 percent fewer cars and trucks in North America this quarter, a steeper cut than the 5 percent it forecast last month. The automaker trimmed first- quarter output in the region 15 percent from a year earlier.
Ford sold 264,975 cars and trucks, a decline from 291,146 a year earlier. The results included a 15 percent decline to 71,481 in sales of F-Series pickups. A year earlier, Ford sold 84,168 of the trucks, the most of any month in 2006.
The automaker is ``assessing'' F-Series production, company sales analyst George Pipas said in a conference call. Ford has been ``conservative'' about how many it builds, he said.
Sales of the Dearborn, Michigan-based company's Explorer sport-utility vehicle fell 25 percent to 12,876.
The truck declines overwhelmed gains in some smaller car models, including a 48 percent rise to 15,790 for the Fusion midsize sedan and a 5.5 percent gain to 17,065 for the Focus small car.
Toyota, Honda, Nissan
Toyota, Japan's largest automaker, sold 242,675 vehicles in March, up from 217,286 a year ago, the Toyota City, Japan-based company said in a statement.
The increase was led by the gasoline-electric Prius hatchback, which more than doubled sales from a year earlier to 19,156, the company said. Tundra pickup sales rose 12 percent.
Honda sales increased to 143,392 from 128,806, the company said in a statement. That included gains of 23 percent for the Accord sedan and 2.6 percent for the Civic small car. Tokyo-based Honda also sold 4,235 of its new Fit small car.
Nissan's gain to 111,119 cars and trucks was led by the revamped Altima sedan, Versa small car and Infiniti G35 sports car, Katherine Zachary, a spokeswoman for the Tokyo-based automaker's U.S. unit, said.
Among other Asian companies, Mazda Motor Corp., a Ford affiliate based in Hiroshima, Japan, sold a record 37,742 vehicles, a gain of 48 percent from a year earlier and its largest increase in 26 years, spokesman Eric Booth said.
Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Motors Corp., said its sales rose 22 percent to 12,536. Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, said its U.S. sales rose 0.5 percent to 41,984.
Asian automakers sold a combined 646,815 cars and trucks, up 11 percent according to figures compiled by Bloomberg.
Analysts' Estimates
Sales were expected to drop 14 percent last month for Ford, 3.2 percent for GM and 5.5 percent for Chrysler, based on the average estimates of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
There were 28 selling days in March, one more than a year earlier. The analysts' estimates for GM, Ford and Chrysler are adjusted for sales days. Bloomberg reports unadjusted sales figures, which would be about 4 percentage points higher.
GM shares rose 64 cents to $31.47 at 4:21 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Ford's fell 1 cent to $8.08 and U.S. shares of DaimlerChrysler dropped $1.07 to $82.95. Toyota's American depositary receipts rose 6 cents to $126.98.
source: 3apr2007
General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DamilerChrysler AG unit Chrysler Group on Tuesday each posted sales declines for March, as Japanese auto makers continued grabbing market share.
Detroit's Big Three saw a troubling decline in sales of large pickup trucks and they continued to pull back from low-margin rental-car sales.
Meanwhile, Japanese auto makers, led by Toyota Motor Corp., relied on sales of fuel-efficient passenger cars and more generous customer incentives to increase volume.
Despite the well-publicized problems of domestic auto makers, executives at Ford and GM indicated the overall auto industry in the U.S. is strong, even in the face of headwinds, such as high energy prices.
According to New Jersey-based Autodata Corp., light vehicles industrywide sold at a seasonally adjusted rate of 16.32 million units in March, compared with 16.64 million in February and 16.6 million in March 2006 .
GM posted a 4% drop in March U.S. light-vehicle sales as retail sales fell and the world's largest auto maker continued to slash sales to rental-car fleets. Ford posted a 9% decline in sales of cars and light trucks. Chrysler Group's sales fell 4.6%.
In contrast to their struggling U.S. rivals, most of the Japanese auto makers reported higher U.S. sales. Toyota's sales jumped 12%; Honda Motor Co., up 11%; and Nissan Motors, up 7.8%. Subaru of America's sales, however, fell 5%.
GM sold 345,418 light vehicles in March, compared with 359,705 vehicles a year earlier. In March, the auto maker produced 401,000 vehicles in North America, down 59,000 vehicles, or 13%, from a year ago.
GM revised its second-quarter North American production forecast to 1.16 million vehicles, down 1.3% from last month's outlook. However, GM also raised its first-half production forecasts for Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
GM sales manager Paul Ballew said that the slump in the housing market and higher energy prices are adding some risk to industry sales projections, but the auto maker isn't revising its expectations for the year. Mr. Ballew said overall economic expansion should be "healthy enough to weather the shocks."
Toyota sold 242,675 vehicles in March, compared with 217,286 a year ago, helped by strong sales of its Toyota and Lexus hybrid vehicles. The results, however, failed to push Toyota past Ford in the battle for the spot of No. 2 U.S. auto maker, as Ford sold 264,975 cars and light trucks in the latest month. But Toyota is expected to gain No. 2 ranking sometime this year. The Japanese industrial icon topped Ford in sales for January and passed its American competitor twice in monthly sales during 2006.
Toyota and other Japanese car companies are increasingly using discounts and rebates to maintain momentum. Toyota is relying on incentives to spur demand for its new Tundra pick-up truck.
Ford's president of the Americas, Mark Fields, said his company is "moving quickly to operate profitably at lower volumes and a changed mix, and we are encouraged our retail market share appears to be stabilizing over the past several months."
"Our newest products also are achieving the sales targets we have set for ourselves, another sign that we're making good progress," Mr. Fields said.
Two months ago, Ford posted the largest full-year loss in its history, a shortfall of $12.7 billion for 2006. It posted consecutive double-digit percentage drops in sales of cars and light trucks in each of the first two months of this year - 13.5% in February, and 19% in January.
Ford said sales of its F-Series pickup, one of its most profitable vehicles, dropped 15% during March, amid a contractual dispute with engine maker Navistar International Corp. Navistar supplies diesel engines for the Super Duty pickup-truck line. In late February, a squabble over warranty and pricing issues led Navistar, of Warrenville, Ill., to quit shipping diesel engines to Ford until the auto maker got a court order from a Michigan judge to resume shipment. The companies are continuing talks in an effort to reach a settlement.
Ford, GM, and more recently Chrysler Group have been trying to bolster sales to customers at dealerships, as the auto makers shun low-margin sales to rental-car companies. The Detroit auto makers have been hurt by an overall switch in buyer preference away from trucks and SUVs toward more fuel-efficient vehicles that are mostly Asian-made, as well as by the housing-market slump.
Chrysler, which is the focus of sale talks, posted a 4.6% drop in March U.S. sales. Chrysler posted total sales of 206,435 vehicles for the month -- the first time it topped the 200,000 mark in monthly sales since posting sales of 216,412 in March 2006. The German parent company's luxury Mercedes-Benz USA division, on the other hand, posted a 0.9% rise in March sales.
Chrysler, which derives about 75% of its revenue from truck and SUV sales, has been particularly hard hit by the shift in buyer preferences toward smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Chrysler recently began to follow the lead of GM and Ford in slashing more low-margin sales to rental-car fleets. It is also relying heavily on incentives to lure buyers.
The Auburn Hills, Mich., company, which posted a $1.5 billion loss for 2006, is now the subject of talks that observers say could lead to its sale or a restructuring as part of DaimlerChrysler. On Wednesday, DaimlerChrysler is expected to winnow the list of bidders for Chrysler to one or two finalists, preceding its annual shareholder meeting in Berlin.
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