October Car Sales May Show Signs of Life When Reported Tuesday
November 03, 2009
Automakers report October sales on Tuesday and those reports are likely to show some signs of life.
Edmunds.com forecasts the Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) of car sales will come in at 10.3 milllion to 10.4 million, the year's highest level aside from the summer's Cash for Clunkers months of July and August.
Toyota's Bob Carter told reporters in Detroit Monday that he expects the SAAR to come at between 10.3 to 10.5 million units. "Toyota will be up single digits on a daily selling rate basis versus September and down slightly - single digits - versus a year ago," Carter said. Edmunds.com forecasts Toyota sales will be off 9.6 percent from a year ago.
"We're pleased," added Carter. "We're seeing continued improvement especially in the retail area of the market."
Ford's October forecast is in line with Edmunds.com's. Speaking with reporters Friday, Ken Czubay, Ford vice president of U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service, predicted the industry to be "a little bit off from last October and a little bit up from September.
"The roller coaster is pretty well over," he said. "We're getting back to sequential business improvement though the slop may be flatter than many people had thought six months ago."
Czubay said it was too close to call whether Ford would be up or down (Edmunds.com has Ford sales down less than 4 percent from last year's October, a relatively good month for Ford). "Though October was truck month and we pulled a lot of truck business, we're very pleased with our car business, which is being fueled by new products. The Ford Fusion will have a good month. The Ford Taurus will have a real good month. And CUVs (crossovers) are having a good month."
Czubay said October will have an atypical dynamic in that some automakers sold mostly leftover 2009 models while others, including Ford, sold mostly 2010 models, which "dictates different levels of incentives," he noted.
General Motors, in a briefing midmonth, forecasted about a 10.5 million light-duty SAAR. The automaker expects to report a year-to-year sales and market share increase. GM expects market share 20 to 21 percent. -- Michelle Krebs, Senior Analyst and Editor at Large
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:36 AM under Analysis , Ford , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
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