Mitsubishi
Industry Sees 2010 as Prelude to Even Better 2011
By Michelle Krebs January 4, 2011By Dale Buss, Michelle Krebs and Bill Visnic Don't look now, but U.S. automakers may be counting on a stronger-than-expected finish to 2010 to launch a stronger-than-hoped-for beginning to the new year. Industry-wide U.S. sales reached about 11.5 million units, automakers reported on Tuesday, up 11 percent from 2009 sales of about 10.4 million units. That final tally was about what auto executives were predicting throughout 2010. But their confidence grew during a particularly robust fourth quarter, when the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate of sales (SAAR) actually exceeded 12 million units in each month. This means that the American more
Green: Tesla's Musk Donates Solar Plant; Marines Buy Electric Trucks; Nissan, Mitsu Join in Venture
By Michelle Krebs December 14, 2010Edmunds.com's Green Car Advisor reports today that Tesla's Elon Musk is donating a solar generating station to the Hurricane Response Center in Alabama, the U.S. Marine Corps is purchasing Smith Newton electric trucks and Nissan and Mitsubishi have joined in an electric charger sharing venture. more
November Sales Uptick Feeds Industry Expectations
By AutoObserver Staff December 1, 2010Holiday spirits are bright across most of the U.S. auto industry this week after carmakers posted November sales about 18 percent higher than a year earlier, and at a strengthening seasonally adjusted annual rate sales pace of about 12.2 million units for the second consecutive month. more
Los Angeles Auto Show Heralds Uncertain but Hopeful New Year
By Bill Visnic November 16, 2010There is much hopeful and upbeat as the Los Angeles auto show opens to the media today. Automakers are making an increasingly credible collective effort to open a new era of advanced, more-efficient and more environmentally friendly personal mobility. There's a growing sense such a transformation might even evolve into profitable business. And, of course, there's the rebound - so far a stunted, jerky one, but 2010 will be kinder to the auto industry than was 2009. Many automakers, however, still are licking wounds from the protracted recession, the battle for market share is more cutthroat than ever and more
Sportscars Continue as Recession-Recovery's Biggest Casualties
By Bill Visnic November 9, 2010From top to bottom, the sportscar segments have been hammered by the last two years' economic upheaval - and while most analysts consider the broad auto market to be gaining a slow but consistent strength, sportscar sales are not recovering. Even Mazda Motor Corp.'s MX-5 Miata, the car many consider the bellwether of the sportscar market, can't regain its footing. Through October, Mazda had sold just 5,695 Miatas for the entire year, a number down 19 percent from its bleak 2009 number for the same period. Mazda's RX-8, the industry's one and only remaining home for the unique rotary more
Major Makers Report Encouraging Sales for October
By AutoObserver Staff November 3, 2010Traditionally, October is a relatively uneventful month in the U.S. automotive calendar, stuck between the new-model excitement of September and retailers' typical end-of-the-year push for sales. That's why major American automakers were just fine with industry-wide October sales of 949,644 units. Though they were about flat with September's sales, October results improved by 14 percent over October 2009 sales of 763,050 units, representing yet another increment of year-over-year improvement in a market that now is sustaining a modest but firm recovery. October sales, always the third lowest month for unit sales, clocked at a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) more
New Models Drive Luxury Sales in October; Momentum Continues for Others
By Michelle Krebs November 2, 2010October sales reports began rolling in Tuesday and, as predicted, the rate of sales could be the highest of the year. The Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of sales is forecasted by Edmunds.com to be close to 12 million units. "However," cautioned Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds.com's director of industry analysis, "the actual sales volume will be low. October probably will be the third lowest month for actual unit sales, behind January and February." And that's typical. Edmunds.com's analysis of sales trends from 2002 through 2009 shows October traditionally is the third worst month of the year; January is the worst, November more
Auto Sales Firmed in September, Brightening Picture
By Bill Visnic October 1, 2010U.S. auto sales steadied last month, rising slightly from the seasonal pace of August and reassuring carmakers that they'll still finish the year ahead about 10 percent in sales volume compared with a dismal 2009. Industry-wide sales were about 958,835 units in September, up a healthy 30.8 percent from year-earlier sales of 733,069 units. The percentage increase this year was discounted because it was such an easy comparison with September, 2009, when sales dropped off atypically after the federal government's "cash for clunkers" program touched off a buying frenzy in August. But the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate for more
August Sales Portray an Auto Industry Going 'Sideways'
By AutoObserver Staff September 1, 2010U.S. auto sales have entered a period where treading water is the best the industry can hope for as American consumers deal with sobering economic realities and grim expectations. August sales results underscored that trend, coming in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 11.5 million units, solidly within the narrow range of the last few months - and consistent with previous expectations for the rest of the year and 2010 as a whole. more
December Provides Industry-Stirring Finish to 2010
By Michelle Krebs January 5, 2011By Dale Buss, Michelle Krebs, and Bill Visnic Last month showed up for automakers like a luxury sedan wrapped in a huge red bow in one of the many holiday-sales promotions that have dominated TV advertising for weeks. In fact, propelled by seasonal promotions and by the momentum of an increasingly sturdy industry recovery, U.S. automakers sold about 2.2 million vehicles in December, for a 12.48 million Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate of sales, the highest rate for any month of the year. In fact, except for the Cash for Clunker-juiced August 2009, it was the highest monthly SAAR since more