US car sales plunge by 36 percent
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Reuters
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 07, 2009 00:00
DETROIT - U.S. auto sales plunged by 36 percent in December led by outsized declines at Chrysler, Hyundai Motor and Toyota Motor as the battered industry closed out its weakest year since 1992 in its largest single market.
Chrysler's sales dropped by 53 percent in December, a month when the automaker and larger rival General Motors fought to clinch a $17.4 billion bailout from the government.
Meanwhile, Toyota, the global industry leader, posted a sales drop of 37 percent for the month, its worst U.S. sales decline since at least 1980.
Hyundai's sales tumbled 48 percent and it responded with an unusual marketing campaign targeting shell-shocked U.S. consumers with an offer allowing them to return new cars if they lose their jobs.
The plummeting sales for December had been widely expected and were slightly better than some of the most dire forecasts. But the unrelenting slide in auto sales seemed certain to raise concerns about the depth of the ongoing recession in the early months of 2009.
"January and February are typically some of the slowest months for the industry volume historically and for March we are probably not going to see much of an uptick at all," said Edmunds.com analyst Jesse Toprak.
December sales for Honda Motor dropped 35 percent and Ford Motor fell 32 percent. GM and Nissan Motor saw sales decline by 31 percent.
The sales figures were the first since the U.S. Treasury extended an initial $8 billion in loans to GM and Chrysler to avoid a cash crunch that both had warned was looming.
Auto sales in Asia and Europe, which followed the U.S. market into a sharp downturn in the second half of 2008, showed signs of a deepening slowdown as well.
Sales dropped almost 16 percent in France and fell 22 percent in Japan, after a record decline of almost 50 percent in Spain last week.
Automakers across the globe are struggling to reduce stock of unsold vehicles and have resorted to plant closures, job cuts and extended holidays for workers.
Meanwhile, Toyota, the global industry leader, posted a sales drop of 37 percent for the month, its worst U.S. sales decline since at least 1980.
Hyundai's sales tumbled 48 percent and it responded with an unusual marketing campaign targeting shell-shocked U.S. consumers with an offer allowing them to return new cars if they lose their jobs.
The plummeting sales for December had been widely expected and were slightly better than some of the most dire forecasts. But the unrelenting slide in auto sales seemed certain to raise concerns about the depth of the ongoing recession in the early months of 2009.
"January and February are typically some of the slowest months for the industry volume historically and for March we are probably not going to see much of an uptick at all," said Edmunds.com analyst Jesse Toprak.
December sales for Honda Motor dropped 35 percent and Ford Motor fell 32 percent. GM and Nissan Motor saw sales decline by 31 percent.
The sales figures were the first since the U.S. Treasury extended an initial $8 billion in loans to GM and Chrysler to avoid a cash crunch that both had warned was looming.
Auto sales in Asia and Europe, which followed the U.S. market into a sharp downturn in the second half of 2008, showed signs of a deepening slowdown as well.
Sales dropped almost 16 percent in France and fell 22 percent in Japan, after a record decline of almost 50 percent in Spain last week.
Automakers across the globe are struggling to reduce stock of unsold vehicles and have resorted to plant closures, job cuts and extended holidays for workers.