Clunker ‘hangover’

[rickaren]

Biggest makers slip as industry battles clunker ‘hangover’

Posted Friday, Oct 2, 2009, 11:05 am in Employee News

The biggest automakers posted some of the sharpest U.S. sales declines in September as demand dropped to its lowest level since April in the aftermath of the cash-for-clunkers program, Automotive News reported.

The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate was 9.51 million units, the trade paper said. After thronging dealerships during the government incentive and sending August demand to the year’s high of 13.7 million, consumers backed off in September, dropping the sales rate slightly below June’s 9.55 million, the Automotive News said.

Sales for General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group, both recovering from bankruptcy, plunged more than 40 percent, in line with analysts’ forecasts, the story said. American Honda tumbled 20 percent and Toyota Motor sales were down 13 percent. Ford Motor Co. fell 5 percent after two straight months of year-over-year gains, the paper said.

The Automotive News said industry sales fell to 746,206, down 23 percent compared with September 2008 and putting the nine-month decline at 27 percent. August had marked the first year-over-year monthly gain since October 2007 and the first month this year that sales topped 1 million units, the paper said.

The paper reported that demand was weakest in the first half of the month. The federal government’s clunkers program, which ended Aug. 24, had stifled September sales by draining inventories and pulling ahead buyers who would have made their purchases later in the year, they said. By the end of the month, automakers had built inventory to improve selection for shoppers, setting the stage for a gradual improvement in sales through next year, the story said. (Automotive News)