Post by boeslap on Jan 5, 2010 17:17:26 GMT -5
Ford sales surge; GM, Chrysler lag
Ford posts 33 percent gain for December, beating most expectations
DETROIT - Ford Motor Co posted a 33 percent sales gain for December as U.S. auto
sales ended 2009 on an upswing after a tumultuous year that saw GM and
Chrysler collapse into bankruptcy and China overtake
the United States as the biggest car market.
The Ford sales surge ran beyond the expectations of analysts and sent
the company's stock sharply higher.
Ford shares powered above $11 to hit their highest level since August 2005.
Toyota Motor Corp was just behind Ford with a 32 percent sales gain.
Honda Motor Co posted a sales gain of nearly 20 percent.
Sales for Nissan Motor Co were up 18 percent.
GM and Chrysler lagged the pack. Chrysler's sales dropped 4 percent. General Motors
Co posted a sales decline of 6 percent.
Ford's stock has gained 55 percent in a rally since early
November and has more than quadrupled in value over the past year as investors
bet that the No. 2 U.S. automaker would steer clear of the federal bailouts that
wiped out equity in its domestic rivals.
Ford's U.S. market share rose to 15 percent
for all of 2009, up about a percentage point on the year to mark the first such
gain for the automaker since 1995, when it controlled about a quarter of the
market.
"Ford's plan is working," Ken Czubay, the automaker's
head of U.S. sales, said in a statement.
After adjusting for population, U.S. auto sales suffered
their deepest decline since World War Two in 2009. Full-year sales are expected
to be just above 10.3 million vehicles, down 40 percent from where the industry
began the decade in 2000.
In a historic reversal, vehicle sales in China surged to overtake the U.S. market
as the world's largest in 2009.
Jan. 5: Ford's December sales surged 23.3 percent.
CNBC's Phil LeBeau discusses auto industry prospects with George Pipas,
Ford chief sales analyst.
With a final sales tally due later this week, analysts expect China
sales to have soared 44 percent to 13.5 million units in 2009.
Slower growth is projected for this year.
Meanwhile, major automakers are betting that the U.S. market is poised
for a gradual but steady rebound this year and next and have set production
plans higher for the current quarter to restock inventories.
U.S. auto sales on average are expected to come in above an 11 million unit
annualized sales rate in December. That would represent the best sales
month of 2009 excluding July and August when U.S. government trade-in incentives
gave sales a temporary boost through the "cash for clunkers" program.
"I think 2010 is going to be a better year," said Al Castignetti,
who heads Nissan-brand sales in the U.S. market.
"We're starting to see lenders get a little bit more aggressive,
and I think consumers are starting to settle down and get a little more comfortable."
U.S. auto dealers and analysts said December sales results were boosted
by bargain-hunting shoppers taking advantage of holiday discounts
and by two additional sales days in the month compared with a year earlier.
In the most aggressive incentive offers, GM gave its dealers up to $7,000 --
a discount of almost 50 percent in some cases --
to buy up remaining inventory of the discontinued
Pontiac and Saturn brands still on their lots.
GM expects that move to have effectively cleared out old Pontiac
and Saturn inventory, allowing it to start 2010 with a clean focus on
its remaining four U.S. brands: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC.
Industry tracking service Edmunds estimated industry-wide sales
incentives for December dropped 11 percent from a year earlier
to an average of just over $2,500 per sale.
Chrysler, now controlled by Fiat SpA , has also been battling to
reduce a reliance on aggressive discounts and cut-rate fleet sales
that have topped half of its overall sales in recent months.
In a positive sign for that turnaround strategy, Edmunds said it calculated
that Chrysler's December incentive spending had
dropped 30 percent and was lower on average than both GM and Ford.
The GM and Chrysler bankruptcies left GM held 60 percent
by the U.S. Treasury and Chrysler under the management
control of Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne.
GM and Chrysler took the brunt of the industry's collapse
in 2009, but their stronger rivals were hit as well.
Toyota's U.S. sales had plunged nearly 24 percent through November
and it faces the aftermath of its largest-ever recall to fix accelerator pedals
on nearly 4 million vehicles after reports of sudden bursts
of acceleration that led to deadly crashes.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34707522/ns/business-autos/