Fact is the Camry and Accord each outsell the ‘Bu, G6 and Aura combined by a large margin at retail with a fraction of the dealerships. Shoot, throw in the Impala too and it’s still a horse race.

The new Malibu is a good car, but a lot of people are waiting for GM to show that they are a good company (translate: let’s see how they stand up).

Just some thoughts.

Bunter

Since there haven’t been any Mopar cruisers here in decades, I guess they must be giving them away now.

For example, at Honeywell (a few thousand cars/year supplied by GE Capital) right now the driver has the choice of an Impala or a Malibu. I not to long ago had my choice of Taurus, or Impala at a previous employer. Others (the drug companies for one) have a pretty wide range of selection as drivers are given an MSRP allowance only. My point is that if a car is desirable to many people, as the current Malibu seems to be, it will get a certain number of corporate fleet sales because of driver selection, not just price.

Daily rental sales are truly cost driven. The one change I expect to see in the daily rental fleets very soon is a big drop in Chrysler vehicles.

To a rental company the cost is initial price minus resale value. The resale value of the 25,000 mile one year old Chrysler product they need to get rid of is terrible. Once they calcualte they are better off paying more up front for something else with a higher resale value, good by Chrysler.

I agree!

I too have wondered why the Panther platform supposedly isn’t viable. Maybe Ford figures many law enforcement agencies are eventually going to switch to something else. Even so, lots of cop cars will still be sold. Also, a body-on-frame RWD platform is ideal for third-party adaptations for limousine, hearse and other special purpose bodywork. Keep making Grand Marquis until the last geezer dies, but jeez louise, give ‘em a reason to rationalize the new model is better than their old one. If Mustang can have a jillion “special editions,” why can’t Ford offer some cosmetic improvements to the GM and TC? Hey, at least make an effort, guys!

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has bought some Chevy SUVs. Lousy gas mileage, and not the best for high-speed handling, but ample room for people and all the gear a trooper has to haul around. It’s gotta be more accommodating than the Camaros and Mustangs they once tried. Properly-adapted SUVs might be the future for police vehicles.

Under Chapter 7, the company stops all operations and goes completely out of business. A trustee is appointed to “liquidate” (sell) the company’s assets and the money is used to pay off the debts.

32.7 percent of Ford’s overall sales have been to fleets: rental companies, government, and business fleets (including taxi and livery services). Of those fleet sales, 41.5% went to rental companies. The other 49.5% went to government and business fleets. That non-rental fleet number is the highest of all manufacturers because of the high numbers of Crown Vics and Town Cars that went into business fleets instead of to rental companies. All other manufacturers make the bulk of their fleet sales to rental companies.

Thanks. I’m hoping I can keep doing the BTN and other analyses in my spare time.

Ford claims decreased fleet sales is one of the main reasons their sales are down this year. Yet 32.7 percent of their ‘08 sales sailed with the fleets. As Crown Vic and Town Car sales are restricted to taxi and livery use, only 41.5% of Ford’s fleet sales have been to rental companies.
Are you saying that excluding CV and TC sales, 41.5% of the remaining products were fleet sales??

Checker, er, Chryslers numbers are scary.

To be fair to Ford and GM, they have been cutting fleet but the market drops (and plain old market share loses) keep the percentage up.

I saw plenty of new Malibu taxis in Vegas last spring. The promised in ‘04 that the previous ‘Bu wouldn’t go that way. They lied.
They promised on this one. They lied.

Time for Rick and company to get to there natural venue.
Politics.

Frank, I’ll definately miss you. In this industry “analysis” usually means printing the most obvious, and often incorrect, conclusion with out a second (or even first?) thought.

You have been a breath of fresh air. I sure hope you and RF have someone lined up to do “By the Numbers”. With charts. I look forward to it every month.

Sincerely,

Bunter

Here in Reno/Tahoe area many of the taxi cabs are now xBs. If Toyota were to offer it with the hybrid system they could own the market.

But anyway…by MFGR it seems Honda has one of the lowest fleet sales #s – much smaller than the D2.8, even Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, etc. This is in addition to the fleets wanting to buy up Fits b/c of their versatility and economy (friend of mine is trading out their entire fleet of Colorados for Fits as they tested 2 cars with full loads of wire spools and handled it without any problem). Why buy $22k Colorados that get 19mpg than you can get a Fit that’ll do it for $15k yet gets 33mpg (they travel a lot).

You will be missed.

Easy money, and given how nice the platform is, it’s great advertising for Ford. Almost everybody rides in cabs every once in a while, and those that don’t have the dough for cabs can always get a ride in the back of a police cruiser. No other car on the market requires a NEGATIVE amount of advertising budget.

From the same tables as the fleet sales numbers:

GM 1,241,978
Toyota Motor Sales 1,038,983
Ford Motor 735,652
American Honda 682,083
Chrysler LLC 585,088
Nissan North America 436,015

This is especially true of police departments, taxi companies and livery car companies. They generally use the vehicle until there is nothing left.

I’m assuming these are total retail sales figures you’ve given us to peruse NOT including fleet dumps (to extend the enema analogy a bit more).

I’m seeing (cars only)

#1 Camry
#2 Accord
#3 Civic
#4 Altima
#5 Corolla
#6 Prius

before we even get to the Detroit 2.8

#7 Impala
#8 Focus
*9 Cobalt

Any idea where the Hyundai Sonata would end up on a car-only list?

Are we all aware of the huge significance of the above list?

The auto market is moving AWAY from trucks (and station wagon trucks known as SUVs)

The top 6 actual automobiles sold in the country are non-Detroit 2.8. This, despite a huge swath of the country not even serviced by any non-Detroit 2.8 dealers.

Once the non-Detroit 2.8 start adding dealers in “flyover country” it’s going to be game over for Detroit, isn’t it?