Highlights: GM cars down 13.9%, trucks down 24.1%. Hummer down 62%, Saab down 50%, Pontiac down 38.6%. Aug. sales were 307,285, down from 385,529 in Aug. 07. GM is cutting 3rd quarter production 10% to 920,000 vehicles and 4th quarter production 16% from last years 4Q to 875,000 vehicles.
Ford trucks down 32.3%, F trucks down 41.6%, FLM cars down 8.9%, crossovers down 1.3%. 155,690 units, down from 212,120 in Aug. 07. Ford to cut production in second half of year to 890,000 from 940,000 in second half of 07.

 

Chrysler down 35%

Toyota and Honda were down ~7% I think.

 

I haven't looked deep into the number yet, but I suspect that Honda is running out of cars to sell. Sales of the Fit and Civic have been running higher than production numbers for a while now.

 

What is utterly amazing is that despite Ford's huge slide in sales, it's CARS are actually doing very well!

I haven't pulled up the details (getting ready to go out so I'll do it later) but Fusion and Focus has been doing well and holding it's own. Mustang is now an old car. It's a coupe that's been out for 4 years. Coupes never last that long without a sales meltdown. I know Mustangs are down.

There is another way of looking at this too.

Ford has until this year sold a godawful, mind numbing, almost incomprehensible number of trucks on a consistant basis. Keep in mind that Ford sold more F-series trucks in a week than some manufacturers sold cars in a year!!!. Ford can afford to take catastrophic hits in truck sales that would have wiped Chrysler from the face of the earth by now if it had happened to them.

Dropping 10,000 feet in a airplane sounds disasterous until you find out it's from 45,000 feet instead of from..... 10,000 feet.

 

Uh - that remains to be seen. Ford and GM were barely breaking-even when selling obscene numbers of trucks, and this sort of huge drop has enormous impact on not just liquidity but maybe even solvency

It'll take roughly ten cars to replace the profits from a single mid-size truck. The situation wouldn't be so bad if each lost F-150 sale was replaced by a Taurus or Edge, but instead it seems that buyers are going after vehicles like the Focus instead. That's a huge drop in revenue that is certainly making some folks in Dearborn sick to their stomachs.

We'll see what happens.

 

I can definitely testify to the cut back in truck sales.
Our business is WAY off target now and we are restructuring to accomodate the changes.

On the other side, we are quoting new business in compact and small cars like crazy. Hope it hits... but even if it does we are looking at 6-9 months to tool and begin production.

It's as bad now as I've seen it since the 1991 Gulf War recession.

 

We sell one item to a GMT900 supplier...

So anyways, anyone hiring? lol

 

While it is down from last year, it is the highest month this year, up 30% from July.

At least there is a little good news.

 

But those enlightened fellows in the Lounge say we aren't IN a recession...

I guess my own dealership has been lucky in many ways. Despite Chrysler being down about 25% this year in volume, my new car sales are down a whopping 5%, plus I'm making more gross per sale. Figure that one out

What's killed me is used volume. My staples were Grand Cherokees and Rams...and those have dried up substantially, especially the used Grand Cherokees. People that can afford a $30k+ SUV can afford the gas to feed it, normally. People who want a $15k used car are often opting for something more economical.

I do believe this will change though. To a lesser extent, this same thing happened when gas hit $3 per gallon...then I was getting Civics in on trade from those who traded in a Grand Cherokee for that same Civic. Guess what they were buying??

 

I hear you!

I've had some good conversations with people in the banking industry lately and they are not understanding why people are fussing so much about gas and milk prices. Gee, if my company made money by loaning you $100k 16 years ago for a house, receiving $210k in payments over the last 16 years, but then foreclosing on the house because you missed 3 payments in your 16th year of a 20-year loan... hmmm... what WOULD I do with all that cash I made by auctioning your home for $150k and paying off your remaining $20k of principle? New branches of banks are sprouting up everywhere around here - they seem to be doing REALLY well. I guess they don't see the recession liek I do.

Personally, my income has been flat for the last 6-7 years due to poor bonuses and low-percentage increases. Yet over the same 7 years, the price of everything has gone up substantially. There is evidence that inflation is going to be alarmingly high this year, foreclosures and defaulted credit lines are at highs not seen since the early 1990's... so what's not to say? I think it's as "recession" as it gets without going all-out depression.

Congrats to you for finding a way to make it work for you personally! Keep it up! For me, it's been jobs on the side and turning classic cars. I'm still doing OK myself, just not doing it with the basic 40-hr job anymore, that's all.

 

Well, to be honest, I'll make a few grand more this year than last year, despite overall unit sales being down. It really makes me wonder how I could've done if I had '07s volume this year

At this point, I'm simply happy to have a job. It isn't 1/100th as fun as when I started 2 1/2 years ago, but fun isn't the point anymore...survival is.

 

Average personal income dipped from 2001 to 2004, and only recently came back up above the level it was at in 2000. And in the same period of time, the stock market dipped, rose, and now has sagged back to the same level it was at in Jan. 2000.

And yet during that period, we were all expected to buy 17 million vehicles per year at an average price of $35,000, and then continue to feed them with fuel at ever-increasing costs. All while the quality of vehicles increased to the point where it's just about silly to think about replacing them prior to 150,000 miles based on reliability concerns alone.

The current downward trend shouldn't be surprising anyone, and I don't expect it to pick up any time soon.

 

Nothing personal, but why in the world would you let a bank repossess your home worth $150,000 when there's only a $20,000 balance remaining? Even if the market is WAY down, you surely could sell it for significantly more than $20,000 and have something to show for it. Me thinks your example is a bit extreme.

 

For all you guys who dislike Volkswagen with a passion on this board, I hate to say that VW has now bumped Ford as #3 largest automaker, and is still up 1.3% for the year. I'll keep an eye out as the year progresses, but it's a pretty blatant wake-up call when Toyota, GM, and Volkswagen are now siting together at the "Big 3" table. Honda was ousted from the #5 Spot by Kia, of all companies.

I'm crossing my fingers for the "formerly big 3" because I DO like a lot of their products, and they're a big piece of our economy. Perceived quality is BIG, and GM seems to be fairly cognizant of that--I just hope it's not too late for them!