Filed under: Earnings/Financials, By the Numbers
By the Numbers: October 2007
by John Neff on Nov 2nd 2007 at 2:01PM 
Apologies for the tardiness in delivering our By the Numbers post this month, but we're here with it now and all the automakers have reported their numbers. Big picture, ups and downs in the industry appear about even, so perhaps October 2007 was a wash. General Motors sales fell 1.1% compared to October of last year, while Toyota Motor Co. sales rose by only 0.5%. GM was led by a resurgent Cadillac (up 19.9%), bullish GMC (up 10.2%) and a Chevrolet that held its own (up 0.6%). Ford and Chrysler, meanwhile, both stumbled hard, falling 13% and 12.4% respectively compared to last year. With only an 8% increase this month in the number of Wranglers sold, Jeep's only popular model just couldn't save the brand this time, which saw its rate of sales slow to 24% below last year's levels.
Standouts of the month include Nissan North America, which increased its daily average sales rate by 8.8% last month, and Kia, our Biggest Winner of the month, which rose by 20.5%. Big props to Mazda and Mercury as well, both big winners in October with DSRs that rose 13.3% and 20.2%, respectively.
Biggest Winner
Kia
20.5% at 25,185 (10/06: 20,097)Biggest Loser
HUMMER
–33.2% at 3,864 (10/06: 5,565)BRANDS
Acura
–22% at 12,886 (10/06: 15,877)Audi
10.9% at 7,421 (10/06: 6,431)BMW
8.3% at 23,451 (10/06: 20,822) Buick
–12% at 14,231 (10/06: 15,541)Cadillac
19.9% at 21,267 (10/06: 17,052)Chevrolet
0.6% at 179,825 (10/06: 171,890)Chrysler
–6.6% at 40,440 (10/06: 41,635)Dodge
–9.6% at 73,020 (10/06: 77,654)Ford
–16.4% at 159,361 (10/06: 183,188)GMC
10.2% at 44,456 (10/06: 38,776)Honda
3.4% at 101,913 (10/06: 94,747)HUMMER
–33.2% at 3,864 (10/06: 5,565)Hyundai
–4.6% at 30,232 (10/06: 30,479)Infiniti
1.8% at 9,955 (10/06: 9,406)Jaguar
–27.5% at 1,030 (10/06: 1,366)Jeep
–24% at 31,856 (10/06: 40,297)Kia
20.5% at 25,185 (10/06: 20,097)Land Rover
1.7% at 4,237 (10/06: 4,004)Lexus
0.6% at 25,119 (10/06: 24,006)Lincoln
13% at 10,299 (10/06: 8,766)Mazda
13.3% at 22,201 (10/06: 18,843)Mercedes
6.5% at 22,820 (10/06: 20,598)Mercury
20.2% at 12,844 (10/06: 10,277)MINI
–11% at 3,370 (10/06: 3,642)Mitsubishi
–3.9% at 9,280 (10/06: 9,288)Nissan
9.8% at 74,992 (10/06: 65,689)Pontiac
–17.5% at 25,182 (10/06: 29,346)Porsche
16.9% at 2,862 (10/06: 2,355)Saab
–19.9% at 2,275 (10/06: 2,731)Saturn
–5.9% at 18,908 (10/06: 19,319)Subaru
–6.5% at 14,979 (10/06: 15,404)Suzuki
5.6% at 6,536 (10/06: 5,950)Toyota
0.5% at 172,473 (10/06: 165,005)Volkswagen
4.1% at 17,260 (10/06: 15,942)Volvo
–11% at 7,761 (10/06: 8,384)COMPANIES
BMW Group
5.41% at 26,821 (10/06: 24,464)Chrysler Group
–12.4% at 145,316 (10/06: 159,586)Ford Motor Co
–13% at 195,462 (10/06: 215,985)General Motors
–1.1% at 310,008 (10/06: 301,317)Honda America
–0.2% at 114,799 (10/06: 110,624)Nissan North America
8.8% at 84,947 (10/06: 75,095)Toyota Motor Co.
0.5% at 197,592 (10/06: 189,011)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Evotec 2:06PM (11/02/2007)
Kia makes the people buy!
Reply
david 9:05PM (11/02/2007)
Kia? hahahahahahahahahahahah!
Kia makes me laugh. hahahahahahahahaha!
Miguel 2:13PM (11/02/2007)
Wow, what has happened to Jeep the last few months? They were kicking ass and taking names up until around June or July, and then they hit this down-slope that has gotten progressively worse month-to-month. I know we all hate the ComPatriot and Commander around here, but the numbers earlier in the year showed the market thinking differently. Did they hit saturation or something? Or is it that the '08 Liberty went from fairly attractive, round-headlamped compact ute to an ugly Nitro clone?
The General lost some ground (not much) for the first time in a 3 months, and their trend over the last year is looking pretty bi-polar weighted towards the depression rather than the mania.
Reply
DriftPunch 2:14PM (11/02/2007)
The biggest loser is Hummer by %, but Jeep really took it on the chin ...
Reply
Willem B 2:17PM (11/02/2007)
why are GM's numbers up 10 000, but their percentage down?
And why does GM have 100 000 more sales than Toyota? Is GM doing that well?
JayP 2:22PM (11/02/2007)
Jeep needs to get off the soft-roaders and get us some diesel Wranglers and JT's. Except the SRT-8 Grand Cherokee, the rest of the lineup is blah.
The Other Bob 4:43PM (11/02/2007)
GM has a higher US market share. Toyota's global market share is slightly higher, but hasn't passed GM in the US. I don't think they have passed Ford in the US either, but I could be wrong on that.
J. D. Billiford 3:55PM (11/02/2007)
>>> Unfortunately, you're right, DriftPunch. Not only did Jeep take it on the chin, but got tangled up on the ropes too.
The decline seems to have started around August and has been headed south ever since. At that time the decline was a mere 1%, followed by September with a minus 7%. Now the decline has more than tripled (24%).
Although not as steep a loss as Hummer, it would be interesting to learn exactly what is causing the decline to increase with each passing month.
Jared 1:59PM (11/03/2007)
The Other Bob you are wrong GM is higher in the world and the us still. Do your research
Rafa 2:21PM (11/02/2007)
Ford should learn from GM...
Reply
Aki 2:23PM (11/02/2007)
You would think they would've got a clue by now: GM makes cooler cars, GM sells more cars. Ford rehashes old cars (Focus), Ford sales go down the tubes.
Rafa 2:25PM (11/02/2007)
The thing is they were in the same position a couple years ago.
Look what they have done.
Ford creates vehicles with ancient platforms.
GM is developing new products and bringing cars from other countries.
Marcus 2:50PM (11/02/2007)
I have come here every single month and said the following:
The Ford Taurus has been a disaster. The new Taurus combined with the remaining Fivehundred on the lots has sold below what the fivehundred did last year. Every single month. And Last years fivehundred numbers were 22% below the year before, 33% below the year before that and 17% below its first year. This happened again. Nobody wants this Taurus. Putting a new name doesn't make it sell.
After Mullaly got 19 million signing bonus, 6 million in wages last year and 5.2 million in wages this year, this is all he has to show for it. Ford is pathetic. Also according to Yahoo news, 37% of New Taurus has gone to government fleets.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/CLTH08401112007-1.htm
R Wiggler 3:13PM (11/02/2007)
Ford is quickly becoming irrelevant. The mustang is about the only car they make today that is not forgettable.
Rafa 3:19PM (11/02/2007)
Wait for the new camaro and challenger and not even that one.
Anti-believer 2:21PM (11/02/2007)
Toyota came close to selling more than Chevorlet, 172K vs 179K.
Go Toyo
Reply
EnviroBob 2:57PM (11/02/2007)
Yup, Go Toyo! Give us another 600,000 Siennas with door problems, give us another 3.5 million engine sludgers, give us Tundras with cracked camshafts and bad tailgates! Go Toyo!
Mr. Oak 3:29PM (11/02/2007)
So, the entire Toyota stable could NOT outsell Chevrolet, and you're doing backflips?
I guess you take your "victories" wherever you get them. BTW, it's only going to get worse for Toyota.
SuperSkyline89 3:37PM (11/02/2007)
Before you slam Toyota like that, think about this:
- The Tundra is a totally new truck, Toyota's entering a new segment, do you really expect it to be perfect? Obviously they'll screw up something
- The thing with the Sienna's is just a plain f**kup so I can't really say anything about that
- Don't know much about the sludge issue but my dad has a 2001 Sienna which runs fine, we just make sure that we change the oil on the minimum recommended intervals
PJ 7:19PM (11/02/2007)
And the denial-fest begins...