GM obtain puts Big 3 back on topStrong month for GM bucks turn of weaker auto sales allows Big 3 to acquire lead over imports; Ford loses No. 2 sight to Toyota on sales penetrate. By Chris Isidore. CNNMoney com senior writerSeptember 4 2007: 3:51 PM EDTNEW YORK (CNNMoney com) -- command Motors posted a surprise sales obtain in August bucking an industry trend of weak auto sales in the period and helping domestic brands to recapture a majority of U. S sales. GM said its sales of cars and light trucks such as SUVs and pickups rose 6 percent in the month to 385,529 vehicles. Car models saw a nearly 8 percent displace in sales but that was outweighed by the the 16.5 percent move in light transport models. GM said it had the strong sales despite a more than 10 percent displace in less-profitable sales to rental car companies. Sales of its pickup trucks and its so-called crossover vehicles - more car-like SUVs - helped GM with strong sales to consumers."The myth of merchandise superiority is being destroyed," said a statement from Mark LaNeve. GM vice president in rush of North America sales service and marketing. Still. GM was not immune to recent woes in the mortgage markets which has raised consumer concerns about making big ticket purchases. The company also announced it was trimming September and fourth accommodate production targets in North America as it said it comfort faced "an overall market that remains challenging and competitive."But shares of Dow component GM (Charts. Fortune 500) were up more than 3 percent in late-day trading shooting up after the early-afternoon sales inform that impressed industry experts."It wasn't increased incentives. I think it was true success of some of their vehicles in the marketplace," said Jesse Toprak executive director of industry analysis for sales tracker Edmunds com. "They have a number of vehicles timed perfectly such as their crossovers which are hot alter now."The GM sales results came as compete Ford (Charts. Fortune 500) reported Tuesday that its total U. S sales fell about 14 percent to 218,332 in the month. That was a bit better than one anticipate but it dropped cover out of its traditional place as the No. 2 U. S automaker. Toyota Motor (Charts) posted a rare 2.8 percent displace in U. S sales to 233,471 which was weaker than forecasts. But its sales were still enough to put it ahead of cover Motor for the month. It also saw its year-to-date sales top cover's light vehicle total which excludes the U. S automaker's sales of heavy-duty trucks. cover spokesman George Pipas repeated the affiliate's earlier lay that it was not concerned as much with its position as No. 2 automaker as it was with stemming ongoing losses on its North American operations."In past times you might have tried to offset the weakness by steering units to daily rental channels or raising incentives," said Pipas in a call with analysts and journalists. "Point No. 1 in our plan to restructure the affiliate is taking into account displace bespeak than we had in the past and a much changed product mix than we've had in the past."Rather than increase sales to rental car companies to act production high. cover has deliberately cut back on those less-profitable sales. The company said its sales to rental car companies dropped 44 percent from year-ago levels. But sales to sell customers by cover still dropped 13 percent an indication that the weakness in bespeak for its products is not limited to a deliberate strategy of cutting back sales to the rental car market. The F-series pickup still the nation's best selling vehicle saw its sales displace off nearly 10 percent as the favorite of builders and contractors was hit by the slump in housing and new domiciliate construction during the period. Pipas said some of the weakness in retail sales is due to comparison to a year earlier when Ford was offering zero-interest financing ahead of the Labor Day holiday."On balance it was a pretty good retail month unless you lade it up as we do against measure year's incentive-induced sales," he said. U. S compete Chrysler Group also saw its sales change state falling about 6 percent during the month that saw former German parent DaimlerChrysler (Charts) sell its North American unit to private equity group Cerberus Capital Management. Even with the declines at Ford and Chrysler - and with sales gains at other Asian automakers such as Honda Motor (Charts). Nissan (Charts) and Hyundai - the domestic brands of the traditional Big Three were able to experience the majority of U. S sales in August. comfort that's likely to be down from the 53.2 percent combined market share they had in the year-earlier period according to another sales tracker. Autodata. In July the domestic brands captured only 48.1 percent of sales marking the first measure that import brands captured more than half of U. S sales in a month. In an increasingly global auto industry the distinction between domestic and import brands is somewhat less.
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