General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler unit said US vehicle sales fell in January as they sold fewer vehicles to rental-car fleets and scaled back no-interest loan offers.
Sales including imports and heavy-duty trucks declined 13 percent at General Motors and 10 percent at Ford. Chrysler sales dropped 8.9 percent as the unprofitable company offered smaller discounts than rivals. Toyota Motor Corp said sales increased 7.1 percent and Honda Motor Co sales slipped just 1.5 percent.
US auto sales fell an estimated 7 percent, the average forecast of analysts polled by Bloomberg. Automakers were hurt as the recession and Sept. 11 attacks pared demand for rental cars, which analysts said accounted for as much as a quarter of sales in January last year. General Motors said its sales to rental-car fleets were off almost 60 percent, or about 43,000 vehicles.
"Chrysler especially and Ford to a very large degree has been really hammered by the travel-industry slowdown," said Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing/Research in Bandon, Oregon.
"The consumer side of the business is pretty strong." January's sales at dealerships were ahead of analysts' predictions at the beginning of the year, when automakers said as many as 500,000 people who would have bought a car this year did so instead in last year because of the loans. Analysts estimate the month's seasonally adjusted annual sales rate declined to 15.7 million from 17.24 million in the year-earlier month. General Motors and Ford today estimated January's rate at 16 million.
General Motors said it is boosting its first-quarter production plan by 20,000 vehicles to 1.32 million, up 8.7 percent from the year-earlier period. Market analyst Paul Ballew said most of the company's truck plants already are running at maximum capacity. Ford's first-quarter production plan is 2.6 percent lower than last year.
No no-interest loans
General Motors replaced its zero-financing offer early in the month with a US$2,002 cash back offer on all its models. Ford cut back on no-interest loans and began offering as much as US$2,500 cash back on selected models. Chrysler offered a seven-year, 160,000km warranty on its vehicles and on Wednesday added rebates as high as US$2,500 on some models.
Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford offered fewer no-interest loans starting at midmonth and also had lower sales to rental companies and other fleet owners. Sales to corporations and government agencies represented as much as 30 percent of Ford's sales in January 2001, analysts said.
Ford shares declined US$0.40 to US$14.90 and General Motors fell US$0.03 to US$451.11. DaimlerChrysler's US shares fell US$0.56 to US$40.
Detroit-based General Motors said it sold 299,634 vehicles in January, including a 34 percent decline for cars and a 10 percent increase for trucks. Ballew said almost all of the decline could be attributed to lost sales to ANC Rental Corp, owner of the Alamo and National rental brands, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November.
Sales fell at all General Motors brands except Chevrolet and GMC. Car sales declined 34 percent as every Buick and Oldsmobile model fell more than 25 percent. Chevrolet Cavalier sales were down 4.6 percent and Impala sales fell 15 percent.
Truck sales rose 10 percent to 183,001, as sales of Chevrolet full size pickups rose 21 percent. Sales of the GMC Sierra full-size pickup rose 7.3 percent. The Tahoe and Yukon sport-utility sales fell less than 2 percent each.
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