Ford, Toyota sales show signs of improvement

0

SOUTHFIELD, Michigan: Ford, Toyota and Honda posted US sales gains in December that beat analysts’ estimates as the industry showed signs of stabilising after its worst year in almost three decades.General Motors reported a 5.7 per cent drop in light- vehicle deliveries, worse than analysts anticipated, while  Chrysler’s 3.7  per  cent decline exceeded estimates. Ford sales soared 33 per cent, and Toyota jumped 32 per cent.

“People are waking up and realising the world didn’t end and are starting to return to showrooms,” said Aaron Bragman, a forecaster at IHS Global Insight in Troy, Michigan. “It’s  way  too early to say the  trend  is  pointing  north,  but if it continues this quarter, it’s a positive sign.”

An industry-wide increase for December would cap automakers’ first quarterly improvement since the last three months of 2006, after October and November totals were little changed.

The recession and bankruptcies at the predecessors of Detroit-based GM and Chrysler ravaged 2009 sales.

Honda said US deliveries increased 24 per cent, and Nissan jumped 18 per cent. The results reshuffled the industry rankings in the United States, with Honda climbing past Chrysler and into fourth  place  for the first time in full-year sales.

Ford,  spurred  by an 83 per cent gain for the Fusion and a doubling of Taurus sales, said the December results gave the automaker an estimated 15 per cent of 2009 US sales for the first full-year increase in its home market since 1995. Ford said 2008’s total was about 14 per cent.

“Ford is suddenly becoming an acceptable buy for people who it wasn’t before,” said John Wolkonowicz, an IHS Global Insight analyst in Lexington, Mass.

“Ford is a cool purchase now, which it didn’t used to be. And that is huge.”

The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate may be 11.1 million light vehicles, according to the average estimate  of eight analysts in a Bloomberg  survey, while Chrysler  Tuesday   projected the rate at 11.3 million.

That would be up from 10.3 million in December 2008 and mark the second straight monthly gain, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Manufacturers, dealers and investors use the sales rate to compare monthly totals by taking into account seasonal buying patterns. Industry sales may have totalled 10.4 million units in 2009, the fewest since 1982, according to market researcher Edmunds.com.

US sales were 13.2 million in 2008, according to researcher Autodata Corp., after averaging 16.8 million this decade through 2007.

Sales estimates for the US-based automakers represented the average of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, and the projections for Japan’s Toyota, Honda and Nissan were issued by Edmunds.com.

The estimates are based on daily selling rates. December had 28 selling days, two more than in 2008. Sales comparisons would be about eight percentage points higher without the adjustment. For example, GM’s adjusted sales decline was 12.4 per cent, bigger than the 10.6 per cent drop projected by the analysts. Ford’s tally includes the Volvo brand, which the automaker plans to sell.

Industry sales in 2010 may rise 19 per cent to 12.4 million because of the need for new vehicles and improving availability of consumer credit, said Sean McAlinden, chief economist for the Centre for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. — WP-Bloomberg