|
Big Three sales drop
|
 |
August 1, 2001: 3:55 p.m. ET
GM, Ford, Chrysler report July sales down sharply from year-ago month
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The Big Three automakers reported July sales of cars and trucks in the United States fell sharply from a year ago, hurt by a slowdown in the U.S. economy.
General Motors Corp., the world's biggest automaker, said its July sales fell to 360,881 units from 397,187 a year ago, a drop of 9 percent.
No. 2 Ford Motor Co. reported July sales of 303,043 vehicles, compared with 347,331 a year ago, a drop of 12.8 percent.
And the Chrysler Group unit of DaimlerChrysler AG reported July sales of 185,598 units, compared with 191,466 a year ago, a 3 percent decline.
GM also cut its forecast for its North American vehicle production by 5,000 units to 1.23 million cars and trucks. The revised estimate is down 6.7 percent from actual production of 1.319 million units in the third quarter last year.
Ford, on the other hand, reaffirmed its previously announced plan to produce 930,000 vehicles in North America in the third quarter.
But shares of GM (GM: down $0.93 to $62.67, Research, Estimates), Ford (F: down $0.14 to $25.03, Research, Estimates) and DaimlerChrysler (DCX: up $0.10 to $49.40, Research, Estimates) were up slightly in midday trade, as most observers were unsurprised by the data.
"Though sales were weaker than everyone expected, the interesting point is that the companies seem somewhat comfortable that sales are weaker," Bear Stearns industry analyst Domenic Martilotti said. "They made a conscious decision not to up the stake on new incentives, which means they're comfortable."
Slowdown hits auto sales
Automakers' sales have suffered in recent months, as a year-long slowdown in the U.S. economy, combined with hundreds of thousands of job cuts, have bogged down consumer spending.
To avoid a recession, the Federal Reserve has cut its target for short-term interest rates six times this year. Automakers hope those cuts and a tax rebate of up to $600 coming to taxpayers by September will encourage consumers to buy cars -- without the necessity for profit-eating sales incentives.
"As expected, industry sales continued to moderate in July, especially when compared with last year's record results," said Bill Lovejoy, GM's vice president of North American sales, service and marketing. "But the market is on track for the industry's third-best sales year."
Click here for more on the Ford/Firestone tire recall
Ford has had the added burden of the public-relations nightmare of the ongoing problems with the tires used on its popular Ford Explorer sport/utility vehicles. The U.S. government has linked flaws in Firestone Wilderness AT tires -- made by Bridgestone Corp. and standard equipment on Explorers -- to roll-over crashes, many of which involved Explorers, that resulted in 203 deaths and at least 700 injuries.
Though Explorer sales rose in June, they fell in July to 36,028 from 39,550 a year ago, Ford said. Ford's total car sales in July dropped 16.5 percent to 117,696 units, while truck sales fell 10.2 percent to 185,347 vehicles.
GM, on the other hand, reported strong sales in trucks and SUVs, the brightest spot in an otherwise bleak report. Truck sales rose to 189,651 from 186,053 a year ago, and GM sold 74,319 SUVs in July, a new record. In fact, GM said it was on a pace to set an all-time industry SUV calendar-year sales record.
Click here to check automotive stocks
Chrysler said its truck sales fell 1 percent to 151,244, but sales of its Dodge Ram pickup trucks jumped 21 percent, while sales of its Chrysler Town & Country minivan swelled 59 percent to set a new record.
Car sales for both GM and Chrysler were a different story, however, as GM car sales fell nearly 19 percent to 171,230 and Chrysler car sales fell 11 percent to 34,354.
Toyota gains strength
Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Co., the fourth-largest automaker in the U.S. market, set a July U.S. sales record, selling 143,283 vehicles between its Toyota and Lexus brands, compared with 135,457 units a year ago, a 5.8-percent gain.
The upbeat Toyota, which is rapidly gaining ground on No. 3 automaker Chrysler, said July marked the first time in its 44-year history in the U.S. that it passed the one-million sales mark this early into the third quarter.
"The first half of this year's new-car game had everyone on the edge of their seats, but the second half could be even more exciting," said Jim Press, chief operating officer of Toyota's U.S. sales unit.
Meanwhile, American Honda Motor Co. posted U.S. sales of 100,921 vehicles in July, a 6.1 percent decrease from a record 107,486 a year ago.
Still, Honda -- the second-largest Japanese automaker in the U.S. – also was upbeat, at least about the rest of the year.
"The combination of reduced inventories and a slightly down market kept us from hitting an all-time high this month, but underlying demand for our key models remains very strong," said Dick Colliver, executive vice president of sales for American Honda. "The arrival of our 2002 models this month will help us to stay on a record pace for the year." 
|
|
|
|
|
|
GM
Ford
DaimlerChrysler
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney
|
|
|
|
 |
|
