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.
Ford sold a total of 232,982 vehicles in December. Sales of the company's North American-built light vehicles fell 13 percent to 216,028, a larger decline than the 9.1 percent forecast by analysts. The company said both fleet and retail sales declined.
Sales dropped 17 percent for cars and 6.3 percent for trucks, the company said in a statement.
Explorer sales rise
Sales of F-Series trucks, the company's largest US seller, fell 6.2 percent to 55,370. Sales of the Explorer, the best-selling sport-utility, rose 16 percent to 28,023.
Sales of the Escape small sport-utility fell 16 percent to 9,104. The Escape has the lowest inventories among Ford vehicles, company sales analyst George Pipas said. Escape also did not have special financing or other incentives on it.
Sales of Taurus, Ford's top-selling car, fell 18 percent to 18,414 while the Focus small car declined 19 percent to 13,621.
Sales of Jaguar luxury cars rose 88 percent to 4,709 on the strength of new models including the X-Type sedans, which wasn't available a year ago.
Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler's total sales of 146,399 were hurt by lower demand for its sport-utility vehicles. Car sales declined about 8 percent and light-truck sales slipped 9 percent.
The Chrysler PT Cruiser, usually a strong seller, fell 36 percent to 8,642. The Dodge Durango sport-utility declined 24 percent to 7,300 and Jeep Grand Cherokees slipped 17 percent to 13,540. Chrysler this week added US$2,500 incentives to the Durango and Grand Cherokee and still offers no incentives on PT Cruisers. The truck decline was moderated by a 3 percent increase in the new Dodge Ram pickup and an 8 percent increase in Dodge Caravan minivan sales compared to the last January.
Overseas-based automakers are likely to gain market share this month as sales of several brands rose.
Nissan Motor Co, Japan's third-biggest automaker, said sales climbed 8 percent to 54,534 vehicles because of a 28 percent rise in demand for Altima sedans.
Volkswagen AG, the largest European automaker, said January sales increased 6 percent to 21,362. The Wolfsburg, Germany-based company was helped by a 63 percent rise in demand for Passats.
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's sales rose 16 percent to 15,923 helped by increased X5 sport-utility vehicle sales.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp sales rose 20 percent to 26,069 cars and light trucks led by a 28 rise in Galant sedans. Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd's Subaru unit said US sales climbed 2 percent to 13,092 as sales of Legacy and Outback wagons and sedans rose.
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