By the Numbers - September 2008: Nobody Wins Edition
by Chris Shunk on Oct 1st 2008 at 4:28PM 
We're not waiting for Suzuki to reveal its September 2008 sales results any longer, as it is highly unlikely that the little Japanese brand will arise as the only brand/automaker to post positive numbers this month. Take a good look below, as it's the first time since we started publishing sales data back in mid-2006 that every single brand and automaker is in the red. It doesn't matter how you slice it, whether you look at the change in volume from Sept. 2007 to Sept. 2008 or if you consider the change in the Daily Sales Rate. Everyone is down.For the record, we suppose Audi is this month's Biggest Winner with a sales drop of just 5.4%, while HUMMER is again our Biggest Loser with a 54.8% fall in sales. You can peruse the rest of the carnage below for yourself.
| BY THE NUMBERS - September 2008 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Vol. % Change | Total Sales 9/08 | Total Sales 9/07 | DSR % Change | Daily Avg. 9/08 | Daily Avg. 9/07 |
| Acura |
-30.4% |
9,997 | 14,369 | -27.5% | 417 | 515 |
| Audi | -5.4% | 7,584 | 8,020 | -1.5% | 316 | 321 |
| BMW | -29.5% | 14,744 | 20,901 | -26.5% | 614 | 836 |
| Buick | -20.5% | 14,121 | 17,754 | -17.1% | 588 | 710 |
| Cadillac | -39.1% | 12,432 | 20,398 | -36.5 | 518 | 816 |
| Chevrolet | -11.2% | 172,803 | 194,637 | -7.5% | 7,200 | 7,785 |
| Chrysler | -39.6% | 23,346 | 38,668 | -37.1% | 973 | 1,547 |
| Dodge | -25.2% | 62,572 | 83,671 | -22.1% | 2,607 | 3,347 |
| Ford | -33.8% | 102,685 | 155,037 | -31% | 4,279 | 6,201 |
| GMC | -12.8% | 39,029 | 44,754 | -9.2% | 1,626 | 1,790 |
| Honda | -23.2% | 86,629 | 112,831 | -20% | 3,610 | 4,513 |
| HUMMER | -54.8% | 2,298 | 5,080 | -52.9% | 96 | 203 |
| Hyundai | -25.4% | 24,765 | 33,214 | -22.3% | 1,032 | 1,329 |
| Infiniti | -24.1% | 7,779 | 10,250 | -20.9% | 324 | 410 |
| Jeep | -42.8% | 21,431 | 37,460 | -40.4% | 893 | 1,498 |
| Kia | -27.8% | 17,383 | 24,087 | -24.8% | 724 | 963 |
| Lexus | -36.1% | 16,045 | 25,113 | -33.4 | 669 | 1,005 |
| Lincoln | -22.5% | 7,571 | 9,764 | -19.2% | 315 | 391 |
| Mazda | -35.6% | 16,169 | 25,098 | -32.9% | 674 | 1,004 |
| Mercedes-Benz | -16.4% | 18,779 | 22,459 | -12.9% | 782 | 898 |
| Mercury | -43.2% | 6,478 | 11,403 | -40.1% | 270 | 456 |
| MINI | -6.7% | 3,762 | 4,031 | -2.8% | 157 | 161 |
| Mitsubishi | -39% | 7,378 | 12,102 | -36.5% | 307 | 484 |
| Nissan | -38.4% | 51,786 | 84,019 | -35.8% | 2,158 | 3,361 |
| Pontiac | -26.7% | 23,324 | 31,817 | -23.6% | 972 | 1,273 |
| Porsche | -44.8% | 1,458 | 2,641 | -42.5% | 61 | 106 |
| Saab | -27.2% | 1,765 | 2,424 | -24.2% | 74 | 97 |
| Saturn | -10.8% | 18,528 | 20,776 | -7.1% | 772 | 831 |
| Subaru | -11.9% | 14,491 | 16,457 | -8.3% | 604 | 658 |
| Suzuki | N/A | |||||
| Toyota | -31.8% | 128,215 | 187,929 | -28.9% | 5,342 | 7,517 |
| Volkswagen | -9.4% | 17,109 | 18,891 | -5.7% | 713 | 756 |
| Volvo | -51.8% | 4,054 | 8,408 | -49.8% | 169 | 336 |
| COMPANIES | ||||||
| BMW Group | -25.8% |
18,506 |
24,932 |
-22.7% |
771 |
997 |
| Chrysler LLC | -32.8% | 107,349 | 159,799 | -30% | 4,473 | 6,392 |
| FoMoCo | -34.6% | 120,788 | 184,612 | -31.8% | 5,033 | 7,384 |
| General Motors | -15.8% | 284,300 | 337,640 | -12.3% | 11,846 | 13,506 |
| Honda America | -24% |
96,626 |
127,200 |
-20.9% |
4,026 |
5,088 |
| Nissan NA | -36.8% | 59,565 | 94,269 | -34.2% | 2,482 | 3,771 |
| Toyota Mo Co | -32.3% |
144,260 | 213,042 | -29.5% | 6,011 | 8,522 |
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 5)
Kevin 7:44PM (10/01/2008)
It would be a tremendous folly to blame the associates.
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k.w.a 8:30PM (10/01/2008)
well when your country's in an economic crisis i don't think its the best time to be buying cars... it's not like u can go to ur bank and get a loan these days... assuming your bank still exists
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John 9:06PM (10/01/2008)
and while everyone is talking about the now, lets look into the future shall we?
with people holding onto their cars longer, they will realize that....WOW....cars really do last longer .....alot longer then 3 years, and maybe people will buy the cars they actually NEED having realized they can keep them for a long time and stop buying the latest and "greatest" on impulse.
I hope this recession means goodbye to the single female in a H2 or similarly sized boring SUV running to the salon and goobye to billy bob redneck making a beer run in his jacked up, useless diesel F350/Ram/Silverado that couldn't go off-road to save it's life.
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IOMTT 10:17PM (10/01/2008)
Good point, Honda may have really screwed themselves. I have a 13 year old Civic with 200,000 miles and runs like new, burns no oil, and gets 40mpg. I am going to 300K and evaluate a new purchase then. If every one of there customers ran the cars as long as they reasonably could before they come back for a new one, they might go out of business!
Cap'n Jack 10:06PM (10/01/2008)
Is there some reason that the VW Group isn't listed? That group is 50% larger then the BMW Group and should be congratulated for having the right cars at the right time! Way to go VW and especially Audi!
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Cardude 11:02PM (10/01/2008)
Wow, that is ugly.
Still, certain people couldn't resist with the fuel economy crap (i guess they didn't notice that automakers with small car heavy lineups are also down) and making lame redneck comments about pickup truck owners.
I wish they would grow up already.
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Wikizards 12:08AM (10/02/2008)
I was looking at all luxury brands and I think for the first time in a while Mercedes sold more cars than all its competitors (Cadillac, BMW, Lexus, Audi, to some extent acura). I understand BMW is getting away from leases, I thought this was an industry wide thing, so they're all affected. But this is amazing to see that Mercedes kept some of its sales. I hope to hear some type of analysis from someone else. Maybe I'm missing something here. BTW, as you've noticed, I'm biased towards MB.
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motang 1:20AM (10/02/2008)
Ouch!
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Avinash machado 3:53AM (10/02/2008)
Perhaps the days of disposable cars are over. Now people might hang on to their cars for longer periods of time.
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BOB 4:49AM (10/02/2008)
WHO SHOULD BE MORE EMBARASED?
Cadillac, down almost 40%, despite tons of hype?
Autoblog, with unreadable chart, due to wrap caused by minuses and double digit, one decimal, percentages???????????????????????
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Kitko 7:44AM (10/02/2008)
Interstingly, September sales in France were up 8.4% YoY, while sales in the first three quarters of 2008 were 3.4% higher than in the same period of 2007.
http://news.auto.cz/aktuality/poptavka-automobilech-se-francii-v-zari-zvysila.html
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Automotive 10:02AM (10/02/2008)
According to a press release by google, an increasing number of consumers are now visiting just one dealership before making a purchase, and that the number of test drives taken in the last year has fallen dramatically. Car dealers already feeling the increased uncertainty in the business. But with a good on-line marketing they make their business more certain and predictable. This is because, majority of the consumers have the different variety of Internet sources to read car reviews, ask other consumers suggestions on buying cars or products. This could be one of the reason apart from the reasons like used car purchases, increased fuel cost and economy inflation.
All of the above thats my personal opinion..
Cheers
http://www.portfolio-europe.com
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Susan Smith 8:53PM (10/03/2008)
Looks like it's time to start laying off those high paying union members who work at these plants. Guys the glory years of getiing paid $30 an hour for doing a job that doesn't require any education is over. Once the labor expense is reduced then these car companies should get smart and reduce the cost of these cars so they start selling again. I think these numbers will continue to decline. I know I won't be buying a new car untill the economy is better.
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