AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

September Sales Grades:

Honda: A
GM: B-
Chrysler: C-
Ford: DDD

Auto sales in September were a mixed bag, but Honda scored its best month ever, with sales up 13.8% from last year. That's what a new Accord and blow-out deals on 07s will do for you. General Motors eked out a respectable 3.7% increase without undue incentive spending. Chrysler sales were down 1.5%, not too bad considering the new minivans hadn't hit the showrooms yet. Some troubling signs for the Chryslerberus folks, sophomore year sales of the Dodge Caliber and Jeep Compass were both down over 20%. Chrysler has scheduled two-weeks downtime for the Illinois plant that makes the Compass and Caliber.

The biggest loser was Ford with sales down 21%, a DOUBLE DIGIT DECLINE - DDD. Keep in mind, this is a decrease from 2006, a year when Ford lost over $12 billion. Ford would like to attribute the decrease in sales to a reduction in planned fleet sales. (The car division was down 45%.) Still, retail car sales were down more than 15%. The brand new Taurus (unlike the old Taurus which was selling briskly to fleets last year) seems to be glued to the dealer lots. Ford just upped the incentive from $500 to $1000 because sales are below the Five Hundred's anemic levels.

The bottom line is that Ford is just now starting to feel the full effects of years on skimping on new product design. With almost all cars on the market being at least "good", Ford loses out whenever a competitor introduces "better". Ford is at least a year away from the introduction of its new F150 pickup line. The only thing new between now and then is the new Focus, a car that has been criticized for being a mere facelift of the old one. As will be discussed in an upcoming post, Ford is the next company up for UAW contract talks. It's going to be a rough year for the blue oval.

Sources

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/business/03auto.html

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/02/by-the-numbers-september-2007/

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071003/AUTO01/710030372/1148