Honda Down 1.6%
by Richard Chen
August 1st, 2008 6:50 PM
Share
Despite predictions to the contrary, Honda reported a sales loss this month compared to July 2007, down 1.63%. Total car sales went up 14 percent, but were outweighed by a 22 percent drop in truck sales. Accord sales led the pack with a very healthy 41,382, Civic further behind 29,125, and both up over the year before– but not enough to boot Ford F-Series from the sales throne. Fit posted an all-time high at 12,266, and Acura's sole bright spot was a 25.6 percent rise in TSX sales. Almost every other vehicle was down by double digit percentages, including all CUV's.
Comments
Join the conversation
seoultrain So what's with the month vs month comparison and not real day sales rate numbers? Shouldn't all the numbers be real and compared by equal selling days? I am confused with the excercise entirely if its not going to discuss anything equal. The percentage difference is huge.
Daily Sales Rate (DSR) is a crock as it seems to conclude that dealerships are closed for business two or more days per week. But, that isn't what actually happens! In California at least, every new car dealership of consequence I know of has the sales floor open seven days a week. California is the largest single automotive market in the country. Maybe there are some places where car dealerships don't sell cars on Sunday, but that only takes four or five days out of the game per month.
In Pennsylvania, all dealers are closed on Sundays, which is a blessing (sic), as it's the day when you can peruse the offerings on the lot, hassle-free.
July 2007 had five Sundays and July 2008 had four. Somehow the automakers declared that July 2007 had 24 "selling days" while July 2008 had 26 of these mythical days. How did July '08 loose only one Sunday but gain two selling days? When you account for the fact that the in many of the most populous states, dealers are open every day it gets even sillier.