October Sales: Looking Good So Far

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: November 3rd, 2010

Most of the smaller makers reported October sales yesterday as the nation went to go vote. The big ones decided to wait until today: The Detroit 3, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan.

Yesterday’s numbers looked good. Hyundai-Kia, Subaru, Volkswagen and others reported sharp gains for October. Today, a mixed bag. Ford up solidly. Chrysler up 37 percent. GM up a meek 4 percent. Toyota down a weak 4 percent. GM can find solace in the fact that they did beat the estimates. All analysts polled by Bloomberg t hat ventured a guess had predicted a loss for GM.

The market is turning the corner, albeit slower than many hope, says Automotive News.

Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends at TrueCar, says it’s better that way: “Without crazy incentive spending, you’re not going to get to a 14 million annual sales rate anytime soon. But if automakers are able to make money with sub-12 million sales, perhaps this is a healthier way to recover.”Perhaps.U.S. Light Vehicles Sales, October 2010AutomakerOct. 2010Oct. 2009Pct. chng.10 month

201010 month

2009Pct. chng.BMW Group23,24820,64613%215,534200,1088%Chrysler Group LLC90,13765,80337%910,357781,31917%Daimler AG19,45418,8693%189,687166,83214%Ford Motor Co.157,650136,58315%1,626,9121,370,68719%General Motors183,543176,6324%1,818,8821,713,5356%Honda (American)98,81185,50216%1,011,247969,6384%Hyundai Group73,85553,49538%751,926634,28219%Isuzu––-%–165-100%Jaguar Land Rover4,2533,04240%36,29030,10121%Maserati19611078%1,5511,05847%Mazda18,01315,06820%192,783175,25710%Mitsubishi5,1113,86732%46,50346,7060%Nissan69,77360,11516%743,474640,41116%Porsche2,6471,64261%20,33715,95228%Saab Cars North America741–-%3,366–-%Subaru22,72018,16925%216,334176,59023%Suzuki2,0431,74517%19,01535,271-46%Toyota145,474152,165-4%1,456,7901,448,5871%Volkswagen28,33224,47216%295,566244,76421%Volvo Cars North America3,996–-%12,589–-%Other (estimate)294308-5%2,9403,064-4%TOTAL950,291838,23313%9,572,0838,654,32711%

Data courtesy Automotive News [sub]

#BertelSchmitt #NewVehicleSales #October2010 #Sales

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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Some Guy on Nov 03, 2010
"Without crazy incentive spending, you’re not going to get to a 14 million annual sales rate anytime soon. But if automakers are able to make money with sub-12 million sales, perhaps this is a healthier way to recover." Let's keep it that way... if people can't afford to buy a new car because money is tight, trimming a few percent off the total price isn't going to make things all better. People may temporarily feel good about themselves as a result inhaling new car smell chemicals, but they're just falling down a deeper debt chasm when they could instead buy a great used car for a fraction of the price.

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Jaje on Nov 04, 2010

Hyundai / Kia is slowly catching Honda, and the way Honda's been focusing on very low volume hybrids and other non automotive pet projects while ignoring their bread and butter cars it won't be long before they are outsold. In 2011 Hyundai will release the Veloster which is supposed to get similar mileage than the CR-Z all without a costly, heavy, complicated drivetrain and seat up to 4 people - and cost less. Most automakers have gone to Direct Injection which provides much better mileage and Honda missed out on this completely except in their diesel engines. Soon other automakers are going to have it as standard and also more diesel options. Giving us better ICE engines with hybrid like mileage - all at a much lower cost.

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