Vfacts For February

[PETE_XR6]

I am too scared to as but what was last months figures like?


not looking good in the US...

Car sales have hit a wall in the United States, with at least one major manufacturer to slash production, raising fears of major job losses.


Ford Motor Co.'s US sales tumbled 48% in February, Toyota Motor Corp.'s declined 40%, Nissan Motor Co.'s slid 37% and General Motors posted a 53% drop as unemployment rose and consumer confidence weakened.

The figures may herald monthly sales that were the lowest for the industry in almost 27 years. Seven analysts in a Bloomberg survey estimated declines averaging 45% for General Motors Corp. and 50% for Chrysler LLC. Honda Motor Co. may post a 32% slide, based on three analysts.

But GM's sales were worse than expected, and the company will now cut production by 34%.


``It's going to get worse before it gets better,'' said Joe Barker, an analyst at consulting firm CSM Worldwide Inc. in Northville, Michigan. ``We do anticipate the sales rate to bottom this quarter. That's not to say that we're anticipating the second quarter to be any sort of real rebound, only slightly better than the first quarter.''

Ford's sales of cars and trucks dropped to 99,400 from 192,799 a year earlier, according to a statement today from the Dearborn, Michigan-based company. Toyota reported a decline to 109,583 from 182,169, and Nissan said its sales fell to 54,249 from 86,219.

Industry sales at these levels make it more challenging for Detroit-based GM and Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler to become profitable and pay back $US17.4 billion in US loans. President Barack Obama's auto task force may approve as much as $US21.6 billion more aid for the two automakers and support for the thousands of companies that supply them with parts.

`Consumer confidence issue'

``At this point, it's not as much credit as it is a consumer confidence issue,'' Al Castignetti, Nissan's vice president of US sales, said in an interview. ``Even if you can afford the loan, people are not willing to take on the risk right now because of concern about jobs.''

Toyota, forecasting its first loss in 59 years, may ask for 200 billion yen ($3 billion) in loans for its credit unit from the Japanese government as private financing has become too expensive, public broadcaster NHK reported today, without naming its source.

``I don't know if it's going to climb back up quickly enough to support the struggling automakers who are borrowing money on a quarterly basis,'' said Stephen Spivey, an automotive analyst at Frost & Sullivan in San Antonio. ``I don't know if that is strong enough to support this industry through 2009.''

Automakers may report today that new vehicles sold at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 9.5 million cars and light trucks, according to the average estimate of 27 analysts and economists surveyed by Bloomberg. That rate would be the lowest since June 1982, when the US had less than three-fourths as many licensed drivers.

`Stuck' at 9 million

``Until we get the housing market corrected, confidence back on Wall Street and the credit flowing once again I'm afraid we're going to be stuck'' near the 9 million annualized sales rate, CSM's Barker said.

Annual US sales of cars and light trucks averaged more than 16 million this decade.

Ford's sales were hurt by a 55% decline to 23,614 for its F-Series pickup trucks. Sales for the Volvo unit, which Ford wants to sell, were also down 55%.

The automaker trimmed its second-quarter North American production plan by 38% from a year earlier to reduce inventory.

Sales for Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota, the world's largest automaker, were dragged down by declines of 60% for its Tundra large pickup and 51% for the Yaris small car.

Volkswagen, Daimler

Volkswagen AG said February sales for its namesake brand declined 18% to 13,660. Daimler AG said sales of its Mercedes-Benz and Smart vehicles fell 21% to 15,614.

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, said it sold 30,621 vehicles last month, a 1.5% decline from a year earlier. In January, Seoul-based Hyundai was the sole major automaker to post a gain in US sales.

February had 24 selling days, one fewer than in the same month of 2008. The analyst estimates are based on the daily sales rate, and some automakers report on that basis. Bloomberg uses unadjusted figures, which for February would be about 4%age points lower that the adjusted numbers.

The Conference Board said Feb. 24 its measure of consumer confidence plunged to the lowest in 42 years of record-keeping.

US employers probably shed 650,000 jobs last month, the most since 1949, according to the median estimates in a Bloomberg survey before the Labor Department's March 6 report. The jobless rate for January was 7.6%, the highest since 1992.

Bloomberg News

[Wretched]

Ford 2,009 2,008
Ford Courier 4X4 0 6
Ford Escape 121 187
Ford F250 4X2 1 10
Ford Fairlane 1 16
Ford Falcon 2,386 2,520
Ford Falcon Ute 1,057 1,207
Ford Fiesta 798 723
Ford Focus 853 1,310
Ford Focus Coupe Cabriolet 32 29
Ford LTD 0 0
Ford Mondeo 314 392
Ford Ranger 4X2 438 862
Ford Ranger 4X4 473 626
Ford Territory 765 1,299
Ford Transit 115 174
Ford Transit Bus 15 14
Ford Transit C/C 27 30
Ford Total 7,396 9,405

Change of -21.4%

Holden 2,009 2,008
Holden Adventra 0 0
Holden Astra 1,149 1,366
Holden Astra Convertible 40 58
Holden Barina 846 1,289
Holden Caprice 99 198
Holden Captiva 911 932
Holden Colorado 4X2 304 0
Holden Colorado 4X4 731 0
Holden Combo 62 84
Holden Commodore 3,376 4,312
Holden Epica 221 470
Holden Rodeo 4X2 19 497
Holden Rodeo 4X4 27 793
Holden Statesman 60 218
Holden Utility 4X2 649 1,454
Holden Viva 535 715
Holden Total 9,029 12,386

Change of -27.1%


Toyota 2,009 2,008
Toyota Aurion 968 1,855
Toyota Avensis 71 92
Toyota Camry (4 cyl) 1,564 1,723
Toyota Coaster 22 26
Toyota Corolla 2,769 4,191
Toyota Hiace Bus 177 295
Toyota Hiace Van 539 950
Toyota Hilux 4X2 1,025 1,497
Toyota Hilux 4X4 1,594 1,828
Toyota Kluger 825 1,404
Toyota Landcruiser PU/CC 395 449
Toyota Landcruiser Wagon 566 1,005
Toyota Prado 977 1,262
Toyota Prius 260 262
Toyota RAV4 854 1,409
Toyota Tarago 120 175
Toyota Yaris 1,548 2,280
Toyota Total 14,274 20,703

Change of -31.1%

[EDManual]

Ford ute is back well above holden ute, why the huge difference from last month?
Be great if ford could get the RTV ute back. Thats the ute that gives the falcon ute some cred. People actually want one, not just need one. Hurry up Ford!

[Polyal]

Bugger me thats huge!

[4Vman]

Holden sales down 30% more to Ford....

[Smoke Pursuit]

Auto industry in australia is really starting to slow down now, last year we seen some falls in figures, but now we are really feeling the pinch...

Good to seel Falcon ute is back on top, only reason it had a bad month for January was lack of supply.. Ford didnt build enough of the right cars in Nov / Dec 2008... This had some negative effects on Ford sales... Things like 7 seat Territory ghias are as rare as hens teeth, and they wonder why the figures are bad..

Its hard to sell cars when you have no stock.

[imugli]

Commodore down ~25%, with 18000 in stock...

[BlackLS]

Good to see the Fiesta picking up. New model and economic climate pushing people into quality smaller cars.

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by imugli

Commodore down ~25%, with 18000 in stock...

5 months stock of commodore would be worrying them, especially if they got the mix wrong.....
Id rather be making to order most of my sales than holding that much stock.
Waiting a few weeks for a car to be made is not a bit issue.

[EDManual]

who says holden have 18000 stock? apparently its a rumour. and is nothing like that.

[mcnamg]

Wow Caprice and Statesman sales have died ouch good thing Holden has a strong export market. Oh hang on.... that has died too in recent months

[colossus]

Despite these sales slumps dealers don't seem any keener to me to want to move cars - thats been my experience in the last few months. Could be a side effect of some dealers now being understaffed due to layoffs.

[imugli]

Just in case we think we're bad, check out Detroit News:

Ford <48%
GM <52%
Toyota <40%

:

[05MkIIFutura]

Falcon platform is still pulling 4197 units a month, against the Commodore platform which is doing 4,184. Those quantities are still sustainable. Plus Holden will be still shifting a fair few to the middle east.

[uranium_death]

How the hell could the Captiva outsell the Territory?

Don't people know what they're buying?

Good to see the Mondeo outsell the Epica.

Barina sales fell a bit. I hope Daddy's daughters have actually learned that they can save their money by just cutting their legs off with the rusty kitchen knife.

Falcon also got close to Corolla...only a few hundred.
Aurion....~50% sold compared to last year.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by uranium_death

How the hell could the Captiva outsell the Territory?

.

CHeap family run about thats a bit smaller so "it doesn't use as much fuel".

Damn a diesel or LPG Terry would be good; or both!

[Mr_4.0]

no rumour. holden have 18000 sitting on lawn. they have been registering cars to make sales look better than they are. cant do that for ever. once a car is 12months old. they have to sell as second hand car. good for a little while. but not as long as they have been doing it.

[Mr_4.0]

holden has dropped exports to under 1000untis for the next 4 months.

it was originally about 5000 from memory.

[Kieron]

Originally Posted by uranium_death

How the hell could the Captiva outsell the Territory?

Don't people know what they're buying?

The Territory is old and tired and needs a decent update, something Ford have unfortunately not done with the new model.

[whales]

[QUOTE=uranium_death]How the hell could the Captiva outsell the Territory?

Don't people know what they're buying?


I agree 100%

[Jondalar]

Wow Aurion sales more than halved, makes Falcon look like a hero with only a small drop.

[Mr_4.0]

what u have to remember is that holden may not have sold lots of captivas. just like the commodore over the last 4 months, they may just be registering them. to improve the look of sales and get people buying. but its not working.

[Polyal]

^^^to show GM US that things arent so bad.

[Gaz]

I find it funny that 1 Fairlane was sold... wasn't production stopped near on 12 months ago? OR do they still do special order?

[XR Martin]

Theres still a bunch at dealers.

[Chopped]

For all the fab reviews the Mondeo had, it must be a disapointment for Ford Aus to see it struggling to outsell the Epica !.

Aurion is starting to be a flop but Toyota seem to have every segment nailed.

[Whitey-AMG]

Dismal figures.....tuff times ahead for all manufacturers.......and the flow on effect for all their suppliers.

Caught between a rock and a hard place............discount too heavily and it all but ruins the brand............don't discount or offer incentives and the stock rots in the yard !!!!!!

Mondeo definitely a big disappointment thus far.

[EDManual]

Was talking to a freind who bought a Getz for their daughter for a cheap price! Auto too, for something like 11000 drive away.

Hyundai dealers are buying "second hand" cars straight from overseas that are in fact new (just a few delivery km as normal) and selling them cheap!

Dont understand why? The dealers say it keeps the cheap prices off the books of new cars!

[Smoke Pursuit]

Theres still a handful of lanes left... probably about 5 - 6 now australia wide.. one dealership local to me has a white one, but theres no incentive to sell it.

[Joe5619]

Ford should dump the Mondeo & bring in the US fusion (the US mid sided car). I've just traveled to the US last month & the Fusion is one very very nice car. Much better then the Mondeo.

YTD Falcon sales are up by 6.46% & commodore is down 14.54%. That has to be a good sin for Ford going forward?