US auto sales strong despite credit crunch; GM leads
Thursday, 6 September 2007
DETROIT, Michigan, Sept 5 (AFP): Sales of new vehicles rose slightly in August as American consumers appeared confident despite troubled credit markets and the slump in housing, sales figures released yesterday showed.
In a surprise, General Motors posted gains for the month while red-hot Toyota said sales cooled in response to tighter credit conditions.
Market research firm Autodata reported light vehicle sales increased to an annual pace of 16.27 million units in August from the 15.28 million unit level in July and 16.15 million a year earlier.
General Motors, which has been struggling to turn its fortunes around, said light vehicle sales rose 5.3 per cent for the month at 388,168.
That contrasted with Toyota Motor Sales' 2.8 per cent drop in sales, triggered in part by a decline in sales of small cars imported from Japan.
Detroit's Big Three overall, including the newly independent Chrysler, continued to lose market share despite the increase in GM sales. The three companies accounted for 50.9 per cent of overall industry sales, down from 52.3 per cent a year ago.
Ford Motor Co. said its August sales tumbled 14.4 per cent from a year ago on sharp declines in volume to rental fleets and slippage in retail sales, especially of its passenger sedans.
Chrysler LLC said its US sales for August fell 6.1 per cent from a year ago to 168,203 vehicles, in the first monthly report since the group was spun off by Germany's DaimlerChrysler.
Most Asian carmakers, including Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, and Suzuki all reported modest sales increases.
Still, auto industry executives and analysts said the problems in the housing sector and tighter credit conditions are impacting the market.
Moreover, the age of the US car fleet is now at the oldest it has ever been, indicating consumers have been delaying purchases of new vehicles, analysts noted.
In a surprise, General Motors posted gains for the month while red-hot Toyota said sales cooled in response to tighter credit conditions.
Market research firm Autodata reported light vehicle sales increased to an annual pace of 16.27 million units in August from the 15.28 million unit level in July and 16.15 million a year earlier.
General Motors, which has been struggling to turn its fortunes around, said light vehicle sales rose 5.3 per cent for the month at 388,168.
That contrasted with Toyota Motor Sales' 2.8 per cent drop in sales, triggered in part by a decline in sales of small cars imported from Japan.
Detroit's Big Three overall, including the newly independent Chrysler, continued to lose market share despite the increase in GM sales. The three companies accounted for 50.9 per cent of overall industry sales, down from 52.3 per cent a year ago.
Ford Motor Co. said its August sales tumbled 14.4 per cent from a year ago on sharp declines in volume to rental fleets and slippage in retail sales, especially of its passenger sedans.
Chrysler LLC said its US sales for August fell 6.1 per cent from a year ago to 168,203 vehicles, in the first monthly report since the group was spun off by Germany's DaimlerChrysler.
Most Asian carmakers, including Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, and Suzuki all reported modest sales increases.
Still, auto industry executives and analysts said the problems in the housing sector and tighter credit conditions are impacting the market.
Moreover, the age of the US car fleet is now at the oldest it has ever been, indicating consumers have been delaying purchases of new vehicles, analysts noted.