Posted on 10/01/2009 5:49:12 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
U.S. auto sales tumbled by 23 percent in September as showrooms emptied after the government-funded boom from the "cash for clunkers" program, with General Motors Co and Chrysler hardest-hit.
Sales for General Motors Co and Chrysler -- the two U.S. automakers struggling to regain momentum after emerging from bankruptcy -- dropped by 45 percent and 42 percent, respectively.
Ford -- the only U.S. automaker to have avoided bankruptcy -- managed to hold its sales decline to 5 percent from a year earlier despite low inventories and reduced incentives for car shoppers.
Automakers had braced for a sharp pullback in September after the clunkers program and taxpayer-funded credits of up to $4,500 drove sales sharply higher the month before.
The overall result was in line with those forecasts as industry-wide U.S. auto sales dropped 41 percent from August, according to Autodata Corp.
On the annualized basis tracked by analysts, industry-wide U.S. auto sales dropped to 9.2 million vehicles in September, the weakest sales rate since April.
In a reversal of fortune that underscores how deep the decline in U.S. auto sales has cut over the four-year-long slump, China's overall vehicle sales for September were almost twice as large as the industry-wide U.S. tally, according to an estimate provided by GM.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Unintended consequences! Idiots, what did they expect.
Good..
Good. I am boycotting all companies that took TARP/Bailout money - forever. I hope those corrupt companies all die, although I hope the employees find decent jobs with companies that have not stolen from the taxpayers. Government Motors must die, and I will cheer every time I hear good news that they are moving along that path.
Yeah Baybee!
Signed, Austin Powers
Cash for clunkers comes complete circle.
Go GM
Go Chrysler
Go to hell ...
Heh heh heh...hope, change.
Good for Ford. My next car will be my first Ford ever.
Taxpayer-funded? I thought the credits came from the gov't. Hard to believe Rooters would use such honest language.
Who among us wants to buy from Govt. Motors? Not I...ever.
Wasn’t hard to see this coming.
Housing sales will fall when the gov’t incentives expire.
So much for that economic upturn.
Even a blind man could see this coming after the end of “Cash for Clunkers”.
I’m glad to see Ford doing the best. It does not look like Obama motors is doing to well.
One thing for sure, Government Motors and FiatUSA will be in business until November 2012.
Agreed. I hope the UAW whores at GM and Chrysler are unemployed. The Obama DeathCare bill has a huge benefit for healthcare and retirement buried in their for UAW union goons.
UAW - you killed GM and Chrysler. Union scum. Ford should move south to non-union states.
Best news I’ve read today . F-em !
This is my candidate for the “Well duh” story of the day.
Anybody with any sense knew that all the cash for clunkers fiasco did was move around sales between periods.
ford held up. Many people will not buy GM or Chrysler. I feel soory for the non-union workers there. They probably have a job until Nov 2012.
GM and Chrysler .. the new commie Yugo car company
Whitacre's dumbass "I Wannabe Like Lee (Iococca)" TV ad is hilarious. It worked for Iococca. It's not going to work for Whitacre.
Uh, Ford sales were down only 5%. Not the double digits of the other two automakers.
Go Ford!
Last man standing wins.
Having driven Fords for the last 30 years, we have yet to have a problem.
Should have thought twice before seeking those bailouts, huh, GM and Chrysler? Seems many of us have not forgotten. Accordingly, what goes around, comes around.
What a surprise!!!!
Yep but good for my co-worker, she is planning on becoming a missionary so she’ll try to sell the house before end of december, around the same time the tax incentives are due to expire.
I`m not crying.
We have one more year on our lease from Government Motors and we will be gone. Unfortunatley, we made the deal long before they went bankrupt.
Only 41%!!!
On the bright side, October sales will be only 15 % lower than the dismal Sept number!!!
5.56mm
All the bailouts are unfair to Ford. If the government didn’t get involved, Ford would had been able to buy the best assets of GM and Chrysler in a bankrupty auction (providing that there were any assets left salvagable)
I like the Ford Flex. The rest of the lineup leaves me pretty flat. That said, three cheers for Ford for not riding the fascist wave.
The consumer is tapped out. As good manufacturing jobs were outsourced overseas and replaced by lower paying service sector jobs, disposable income fell. The collapse of the housing bubble removed the ability of many to remove equity from their home (as foolish as that is...) to make such purchases. It is all just math. Consumer demand will not come back until 1) consumers reduce their existing debt burden and 2) income rises giving more disposable income for such purchases.
Here in Michigan there is a lot of sentiment for Ford but the UAW is really pushing the other two. Penske’s pullout of the Saturn deal is putting another nail in the GM coffin. Eventually, I think the people may start to realize they are at a point of diminishing returns.
Agreed. GM and Chrysler must go if for no other reason to throw a bunch of UAW lunkheads on the street crying, “Dude, where’s my pension?”
I’ve said it before ... you give cars away, people will buy them, you charge for them, they won’t ... especially when unemployment is at 10% and the economy is in the tank. What kinds of economic geniuses would think otherwise?
We are sitting here, knowing what will occur, having our degrees in economics, finance and accounting, but the ones running the country that are the geniuses, can't figure it out?
They (congress, 0bama, Gietner, etc.), are either fools, or they know exactly what they are doing. If it is the latter, soon...all hell is going to break loose.
5.56mm
Ford is mortgaged to the hilt.
The GM/Chry bk assets would have gone to the Chinese.
I’m not hurting, but I am keeping my 11 year old truck. Spent 230 dollars and sweat and knuckle blood changing the radiator out today. But, I have had not had to worry about a car payment for, going on, five years.
Our local Chrysler has only received 15 new Cars in 3 months. It seems that the academia decision to shut down for two months to reduce inventory had some unintended consequences.
Like many parts suppliers did not have enough money to shutdown for 2 months and they went bankrupt.
Now Chrysler plants can’t get parts to build cars. Those union guys are probably standing around doing next to nothing since there are no parts.
Blow Taps Obama killed them.
I wonder if GM is counting the cars people will be returning.
Do I remember right that Saturn was going to become independent of GM? If so, that’s too bad about the Penske thing. IMO the best thing that could happen to GM and Chrysler at this point would be for them to go under and have their various brands sold off. Then a bunch of hard-core “car guys” need to buy those brands and start making some great cars. All the best eras of US car design happened when car guys were ruling the roost. The bean counters need to disappear (also the unions) so the visionaries and romantics can take over again.
That's fine with me.
Did the lower radiator hose clamp get ya?
I’ve got a 30” long screwdriver I bought just for that connection.
It did, and I broke my channel lock knock off. I replaced the spring clamp with a screw clamp.
I’m still driving my ‘99 Accord. Paid it off in 3 years and have been w/o a payment since. Very reliable.
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