Monday, January 5, 2009

It's a bad time to be a car salesman.......still!


And now for something entirely different......

Chrysler's December sales fell 53% to 89,813 vehicles from 191,423 a year ago.

Ford Motor Co. posted a 32% drop in U.S. light-vehicle sales for December.

Toyota Motor Co. reported a 37% fall.

Honda Motor Co. had a 35% decline.

GM reported a 31% drop in December U.S. light vehicle sales to 220,030 cars and trucks from 319,837 in December 2007.

That makes for the auto industry's worst year in more than 15 years.

So what's up with Chrysler. No one buying those pimpin' 300's anymore? The shine's all worn off the PT Cruiser phenomenon? I'd still love to have one of those new Challengers! Yes, it's a guy thing. So it gets 12mpg it also does 0-60 in 4.somthing (SRT8). Maybe in few years I can pick one up for a song.....

Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for Santa Monica-based Edmunds, said declines were especially pronounced in places such as the Inland region, where high rates of home foreclosures suppressed consumer spending and led to higher numbers of car dealership closures.

At least 10 Inland auto dealerships shut their doors or announced planned shutdowns in 2008. While 2008 auto sales fell 25 to 30 percent for all of California, Toprak estimated the Inland region's drop was 35 to 40 percent.

"We've seen the biggest percentage drop (within California) in the Inland Empire," Toprak said in a media conference call. "The areas most affected by the housing crisis have seen the biggest declines in sales."

4 comments:

golfer_X said...

I guess I'm the only person here that likes the Challenger.

Renee' said...

LOL - no "X" - I do to...my tweenie son just loves them...he said to me the other day that maybe with the prices falling on "things" that maybe we could afford to get one after we buy our house....I told him he just may be right!

golfer_X said...

I'll look at picking one up used in a year or two. One or two year old cars are getting clobbered right now. Especially high end stuff. I was looking at a 2 year old CLK-350 with 28K miles on it, and it was only $21k. New those start at $46k. But I'll wait until I buy a house before picking up another car.

Renee' said...

I'm drivin' an 11 year old FORD SUV that is paid for with almost 200k miles on it - - thought about buying a 2 or 3 year old car as well - but Ilike you - I knew that the house has to come first and then the car....but frankly - I am going to drive my SUV into the ground before I buy another vehicle....long time ago people used to do that...to many folks got hyped up wanting new cars that were way over priced just like they did when purchasing their homes....I pass many car lots on the way home each night - there are a TON of used cars that hardly look used - folks had them repo'd just like their homes....I hope my kids learn from all this - watching how people can be very foolish with their money - we talk about it all the time...yet - none of us on this blog can really complain can we - I mean - hey - we are the ones going to benefit from others mistakes as corny as it sounds.