Filed under: Earnings/Financials, By the Numbers
By the Numbers: December 2007
by John Neff on Jan 3rd 2008 at 5:05PM 
Our fingers are bleeding after so much number crunching (look for By the Numbers: 2007 coming up next). As you can see, the last month of the year was not pretty for most automakers. The number of red arrows in our list below are almost too numerous to count. Mitsubishi, however, took the biggest hit, seeing its sales fall off 40.4% compared to last December. Moving right along to the major automakers, Ford Motor Company and General Motors both saw declines last month, with sales shrinking 9.2% and 5.2%, respectively. Chrysler LLC, however, managed to eek out a 1% improvement. BMW was up a percent as well, while Honda America remained flat. Nissan North America fell 2.4% in sales, and even Toyota Motor Co. couldn't pull out a win, falling 1.7%.
Since there were the same amount of selling days last month as there were in December 2006, the figures below represent both the change in raw number of units sold and the daily average sales rate.
Biggest Winner
MINI
44% at 3,562 (12/06: 2,472)Biggest Loser
Mitsubishi
–40.4% at 5,904 (12/06: 9,910)BRANDS
Acura
–7.7% at 17,582 (12/06: 19,056)Audi
-29% at 8,502 (12/06: 11,897)BMW
–2.4% at 30,199 (12/06: 30,945)Buick
–9.9% at 14,400 (12/06: 15,986)Cadillac
–5.6% at 21,436 (12/06: 22,715)Chevrolet
–4.5% at 185,626 (12/06: 194,369)Chrysler
–13% at 48,384 (12/06: 55,839)Dodge
11% at 92,235 (12/06: 88,489)Ford
–9.0% at 173,648 (12/06: 190,914)GMC
8.9% at 45,503 (12/06: 41,770)Honda
1.3% at 114,210 (12/06: 112,722)HUMMER
–23% at 5,333 (12/06: 6,928)Hyundai
24.2% at 46,487 (12/06: 37,365)Infiniti
–3.5% at 12,655 (12/06: 13,112)Jaguar
–2.0% at 1,522 (12/06: 1,553)Jeep
–3.0% at 44,804 (12/06: 46,087)Kia
–19.8% at 24,068 (12/06: 30,004)Land Rover
–18.7% at 4,887 (12/06: 6,014)Lexus
–7.2% at 34,555 (12/06: 37,235)Lincoln
–21.4% at 10,065 (12/06: 12,806)Mazda
25% at 24,933 (12/06: 19,912)Mercedes
–2.9% at 27,301 (12/06: 28,115)Mercury
–8.5% at 12,631 (12/06: 13,809)MINI
44% at 3,562 (12/06: 2,472)Mitsubishi
–40.4% at 5,904 (12/06: 9,910)Nissan
–2.2% at 76,900 (12/06: 78,663)Pontiac
–7.8% at 30,211 (12/06: 32,772)Porsche
–2.0% at 2,891 (12/06: 2,947)Saab
–22.3% at 2,748 (12/06: 3,535)Saturn
–12% at 18,196 (12/06: 20,686)Subaru
–9.1% at 18,739 (12/06: 20,613)Suzuki
0.6% at 7,361 (12/06: 7,317)Toyota
–0.7% at 189,844 (12/06: 191,087)Volkswagen
3.0% at 20,543 (12/06: 19,942)Volvo
9.6% at 9,341 (12/06: 8,525)COMPANIES
BMW Group
1.0% at 33,761 (12/06: 33,417)Chrysler Group
1.0% at 191,423 (12/06: 190,415)Ford Motor Co
–9.2% at 212,094 (12/06: 233,621)General Motors
–5.2% at 323,453 (12/06: 341,327)Honda America
0.0% at 131,792 (12/06: 131,778)Nissan North America
–2.4% at 89,555 (12/06: 91,775)Toyota Motor Co.
–1.7% at 224,399 (12/06: 228,322)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Adam500 5:12PM (1/03/2008)
I love how the pathetic Ford Taurs cannot match the numbers op the old 500. HA!
You cant revise a bumber on a handme down 1999 S80 and say its all new!
Not a single month since its intro did the combined sales of the old 500 and the new Taurus beat last years 500 alone.
Also the Fseries lowest sales in 19 years!! Go chevy go!!
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/industrials/article/crossovers-lincoln-highlight-fords-2007-sales-performance-growth-expected-2008_423010_6.html
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Hamud 1:38PM (1/04/2008)
In November/07 the new Taurus sold more units than the 500 sold in november/06 and 07.
I wonder how pathetic is one of the safest cars in the road that sells 6K units in a month...
Fanboys... they'll never learn.
James 5:17PM (1/03/2008)
What do you expect with Fseries down 4 years straight?
Heard about the Tundra? They sold 196,000 Tundras. Thats sure to take a bite out of the Fseries.
No to mention the redesigned Silverado.
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simianspeedster 8:26PM (1/03/2008)
Tundra sales were up 57% over 2006. I know the die hard bashers hate the Tundra, and it obviously had some first year issues, but 57% sales growth in the most competitive American auto segment speaks for itself.
Ford and Chrysler better start producing some decent bread and butter cars (like GM is doing with the new Malibu) to offset what are sure to be more losses in their core product lines, big trucks and SUVs, because Toyota is not standing still.
-SimianSpeedster
Pat 5:22PM (1/03/2008)
I just heard on the 17h news on Radio-Canada that Toyota surprassed Ford in sales in 2007 making it number 2 on US turf.
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Adam500 5:23PM (1/03/2008)
Well I know the domestics are improving in quality and I know that first hand as I own 3 GM vehicles so I am very happy to see the recall report for 2007. Once again Ford at the top. I know Toyota is slipping and all but I dont know where Ford gets this rep from that they are up there with GM, Honda, Lexus and so on in quality. Give me a break. Mullaly has done nothing but golf and bank 34 million since he arrived at Ford 16 months ago.
http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/2303
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3cubed minus 3squared plus1 8:28PM (1/03/2008)
Maybe because none of those vehicles recalled by Ford were '07s.
The newest Fords are up there with the best.
icetraxx 5:25PM (1/03/2008)
+1 for Volkswagen from me. I bought an 08 GTI in December.
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J. D. Billiford 5:30PM (1/03/2008)
>>> Good grief! It looks as though just about everyone took a beating last month.
Kudos to MINI for doing so well but there are definitely a large number of brands and manufactuers floating in a sea of red, including some of the industry's stalwarts.
Hopefully the new year with its lineup of new vehicles will help to put some more green back on this tree, so to speak.
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James 5:30PM (1/03/2008)
You are correct Pat. Toyota is number 2.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/transportation/article/toyota-tops-ford-no2-spot-auto-sales_423071_8.html
But you must know Mullaly and the boys dont care about stuff like that. They care about splashy news like profits. In 2007 Ford had revenues of 185.5 billion. They had costs of 191.2 billion. What the Ford boys do is they show up to work everyday put their feet up on their desks and wonder out the window how they could bring those numbers into alignment. They tell themselves "think boy, think"
As soon as they come up with something like "cheaper pencils", "54w light bulbs instead of 60w bulbs" they run it through a calculator and see how much they save.
Thats all. At 400 billion of cash flow a tweak here and there, a few layoffs here and there may make the number align and then BONGO! walk down the corridor of wall street with everyone clapping on the floor and announce a profit od 2.3 billion (for example) by Ford in 2007 and then have all the analysts and talk shows say what a great exec you are.
That is unfortunately Fords plan. Not products, but cost cutting.
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Chopper Dave 5:38PM (1/03/2008)
Maybe if Saab would actually put the '08s on the floor instead of hiding them in the back and using them as loaners, people would take some notice.
Instead, people see the same thing they've been seeing since late '02, instead of the vastly improved '08 (I was in one today--still a little parts-bin, but the seats are a LOT nicer). They sniff and say, "no thanks, what do you have in a Volvo?"
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Jim 6:13PM (1/03/2008)
Dodge aint doing to bad, Chrysler needs some work though.
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Kwesi 10:59PM (1/03/2008)
NOOOOO Mitsubishi..wat the hell!?!?!?!?! SUZUKI sold more!!! . this doesnt add up,...new products, better products, sales improvement for months straight.....well, geesh, not the best way to end a year,....the biggest loser
Keep fighting Mitsu....and mash-up Dakar again this year!!
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chewy 12:09AM (1/04/2008)
Yep, they got hit hard in December, while improving the entire year.
ello 9:13AM (1/04/2008)
BREAKING NEWS: 2008 Dakar Rally has been canceled due to terrorist threat :(((((( http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=99&id=3180745
Looks like terrorists win again. To cancel the greatest rally in the world is really some task.
Stéphane Dumas 10:18AM (1/04/2008)
just add more to the statistics, the December Canadian sales
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/01/03/cancarsales.html
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Gary Blomquist 12:59PM (1/05/2008)
Mazda went up 25% in the month!!
Wow.....! They sure bucked the trend.
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