As Expected, August Sales Don't Look Good on Paper

As Expected, August Sales Don't Look Good on Paper

By Bill Visnic September 1, 2010

The entire auto industry knew August sales weren't going to stack up well compared to last year: after all, the Cash for Clunkers program in August, 2009 lured an astonishing number of even recession-addled consumers into what had been gloomy showrooms for ten months out of the year.

So when General Motors Co. was one of the first major automakers to announce August sales results today, GM's decline of 25 percent set the pace for how most other makers are expected to proceed.

Even booming Hyundai Motor America wore the collar of an 11-percent sales slide in August, as its record-setting retail market share (5.3 percent) and year-to-date sales increase of 17 percent couldn't overcome volume comparison with last August. Similarly, Ford, another Cash for Clunkers beneficiary, had 11 percent lower sales. 

Sales executives at GM nonetheless said a modest increase in the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of sales is expected for the rest of the year - and they stuck with their rather broad forecast of full-year industry sales in the 11.5 million to 12 million range.

Ford sees the same range of sales but said, at the moment, the economy and auto sales are moving sideways, not steadily upward.

Chrysler enjoyed a 7 percent sales rise but had been down lower than others, having just emerged from bankruptcy last summer with no appropriate product to take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers boom.

Beset by problems of various degree and nature, Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. - which, like GM and Hyundai, rang up big numbers in last August's Cash for Clunkers melee - also suffered in comparison with last year, with sales down 34 percent. The company was "pleased with the way the month shaped up," said Don Esmond, senior vice president of automotive operations.

From Europe, Volkswagen of American Inc. declined a moderate 7.9 percent, while sales for the BMW Group in the U.S. (which includes the Mini brand) declined just 1.6 percent, as luxury brands will look better in August because they largely were not a factor in Cash for Clunkers transactions last year. The BMW brand once again was dragged down by Mini, which was off 13.4 percent in August.

Similarly, Daimler was dragged down by a huge drop in smart sales, but sales of Mercedes-Benz vehicles rose.

Bill Visnic:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter