Utter collapse in auto sales in February
I've been watching the auto sales figures trickle out for February and I have to tell you, they are absolutely horrid. General Motors said sales plunged 52.9% from a year ago. Ford reported a 48% drop, Toyota said sales tanked 40%, Nissan said sales dropped 37%, while Honda confessed to a 38% decline and BMW said sales tanked 35%. Economists were looking for a seasonally adjusted sales rate of 9.4 million units on the month overall. That compares with a typical rate over the past several years of 16 million.
UPDATE: The annual rate of sales for February came in at 9.1 million units, the lowest since December 1981.
UPDATE: The annual rate of sales for February came in at 9.1 million units, the lowest since December 1981.
posted by Mike Larson at
1:50 PM
1 Comments:
I think car prices are utterly too expensive. Once prices come down, sales will go back up (happening in my local housing market).
There's an AP article on the sales numbers, and it uses phrases like "fantastic deals" and "huge rebates". I'm sorry but $2000-3000 rebates on a $25000 car is far from "huge" or "fantastic".
In a tighter (aka "saner") lending environment, people can't just waltz in to a dealership and walk out with any car they wish. You may actually have to have a DOWN PAYMENT.
I'm on the sidelines for a new car until they hit the mid-teens (and spare me the incentives nonsense).
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Anonymous, at March 3, 2009 at 4:21 PM
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