By the Numbers - October 2008: "Thanks, GMAC!" Edition
by John Neff on Nov 3rd 2008 at 4:00PM 
Sales for the month of October 2008 were... ahem... not good. The auto industry in the U.S. has found a way to slide further into oblivion with only a few bright spots from Audi and MINI, the latter of which enjoyed monster sales last month we suspect on account of greater production capacity this year versus October 2007.While all the major players were down, General Motors, the largest of them all, was hit the hardest. Its sales volume for October 2008 fell 45% compared to last year. It went from selling an average of 11,923 cars per day in October 2007 to just 6,318 last month. Each of its brands were down, with HUMMER taking the Biggest Loser crown (yet again). The real story, however, is how close behind the other brands were, with Cadillac falling 55.1%, Buick 46.3%, Chevy 40.3%, GMC 52.5%, Pontiac 48.2% and Saturn 54.6%.
What can account for GM's entire brand portfolio taking such a hit? GMAC, the financing arm of General Motors that's majority owned by Cerberus. Halfway through the month GMAC decreed it would only lend money only to buyers with a credit score above 700, which effectively wiped out in-house financing for the majority of GM customers. While dealers could still work with banks to secure financing (and were encouraged to do so), it appears the damage wrought by GMAC could not be undone.
| BY THE NUMBERS - October 2008 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Vol. % Change | Total Sales 10/08 | Total Sales 10/07 | DSR % Change | Daily Avg. 10/08 | Daily Avg. 10/07 |
| Acura |
-21.56% | 10,108 | 12,886 | -24.46% | 374 | 496 |
| Audi | 0.3% | 7,443 | 7,420 | -3.4% | 276 | 285 |
| BMW | -13.9% | 20,203 | 23,451 | -17% | 748 | 902 |
| Buick | -46.3% | 7,642 | 14,231 | -48.3% | 283 | 547 |
| Cadillac | -55.1% | 9,541 | 21,267 | -56.8% | 353 | 818 |
| Chevrolet | -40.3% | 107,313 | 179,825 | -42.5% | 3,975 | 6,916 |
| Chrysler | -50.8% | 19,903 | 40,440 | -52.6% | 737 | 1,555 |
| Dodge | -27% | 53,267 | 73,020 | -29.75% | 1,973 | 2,808 |
| Ford | -27.9% | 114,969 | 159,361 | -30.5% | 4,258 | 6,129 |
| GMC | -52.5% | 21,109 | 44,456 | -54.3% | 782 | 1,710 |
| Honda | -25.66% | 75,756 | 101,913 | -28.41% | 2,806 | 3,920 |
| HUMMER | -64.6% | 1,368 | 3,864 | -66% | 51 | 149 |
| Hyundai | -31.1% | 20,820 | 30,232 | -33.7% | 771 | 1,162 |
| Infiniti | -28.5% | 7,112 | 9,954 | -31.2% | 263 | 383 |
| Jeep | -32.9% | 21,360 | 31,856 | -35.4% | 791 | 1,225 |
| Kia | -38.5% | 15,483 | 25,185 | -40.8% | 573 | 969 |
| Lexus | -35.2% | 16,283 | 25,119 | -37.6% | 603 | 966 |
| Lincoln | -27.7% | 7,399 | 10,229 | -30.3% | 274 | 393 |
| Mazda | -25.9% | 16,442 | 22,201 | -28.7% | 609 | 854 |
| Mercedes-Benz | -34.3% | 14,996 | 22,820 | -36.7% | 555 | 878 |
| Mercury | -47.4% | 6,753 | 12,844 | -49.4% | 250 | 494 |
| MINI | 56.4% | 5,272 | 3,370 | 50.6% | 195 | 130 |
| Mitsubishi | -19.3% | 7,486 | 9,280 | -22.3% | 277 | 357 |
| Nissan | -33.5% | 49,833 | 74,992 | -36% | 1,846 | 2,884 |
| Pontiac | -48.2% | 13,054 | 25,182 | -50% | 483 | 969 |
| Porsche | -50.1% | 1,427 | 2,862 | -52% | 53 | 110 |
| Saab | -13.2% | 1,975 | 2,275 | -16.4% | 73 | 88 |
| Saturn | -54.6% | 8,583 | 18,908 | -56.3% | 318 | 727 |
| Subaru | NA | |||||
| Suzuki | -46.7% | 3,482 | 6,536 | -48.7% | 129 | 251 |
| Toyota | -21.3% | 135,818 | 172,473 | -24.2% | 5,030 | 6,634 |
| Volkswagen | -7.9% | 15,889 | 17,260 | -11.4% | 588 | 664 |
| Volvo | -52.1% | 3,717 | 7,761 | -53.9% | 138 | 299 |
| COMPANIES | ||||||
| BMW Group | -5% |
25,475 |
26,821 |
-8.5% |
944 |
1,032 |
| Chrysler LLC | -34.9% | 94,530 | 145,316 | -37.4% | 3,501 | 5,589 |
| FoMoCo | -30.2% | 132,838 | 190,195 | -32.7% | 4,920 | 7,315 |
| General Motors | -45% | 170,585 | 310,008 | -47% | 6,318 | 11,923 |
| Honda Amer. | -25.2% |
85,864 |
114,799 |
-28% |
3,180 |
4,415 |
| Nissan NA | -33% | 56,945 | 84,947 | -35.4% | 2,109 | 3,267 |
| Toyota Mo Co | -23% |
152,101 | 197,592 | -25.9% | 5,633 | 7,600 |
Update: Dodge numbers fixed.
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 5)
zamafir 4:14PM (11/03/2008)
When was the last time Acura didn't report double digit declines? Anyone?
Reply
Beat-it-nerd 4:16PM (11/03/2008)
Really??????? This is absolutely unprecedented
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Rob 4:17PM (11/03/2008)
Now it's obvious that Cerberus is using GMAC to force GM to buy Chrysler...
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BigMcLargeHuge 4:18PM (11/03/2008)
AB,
What's up with Dodge's numbers?
Reply
n8new 4:21PM (11/03/2008)
Yeah, either they're reversed or it is an increase instead of a decrease. Which is it?
Andrew L 4:40PM (11/03/2008)
I highly doubt its an increase
n8new 4:29PM (11/03/2008)
I'm not sure what's up with that 10/07 number, but Chrysler's media website shows the 10/07 number to be 73,020, which means a 27% decrease in 10/08.
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ChrisB 4:32PM (11/03/2008)
It looks like Dodge had an increase in sales........ or am I looking at this wrong?
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stevereportdotcom 4:30PM (11/03/2008)
If GM only concentrated on fuel efficient vehicles and quality built cars, it would have sailed through this like Honda and Toyota (Yeah, there sales are down also, but they have enough money to stay afloat. Heck, they even had there plants idle while there employees did volunteer work with no layoffs).
GM = Fail
Reply
happy_penguin 5:18PM (11/03/2008)
General Motors STILL outsold every other company listed. The American companies sold almost 400,000 units. Naturally when you have more of the market you stand to lose more of your sales when EVERYBODY is losing.
n8new 4:31PM (11/03/2008)
I'm sorry, that 27% decrease is for Dodge in particular -- not Chrysler as a whole.
Reply
happy_penguin 6:35PM (11/03/2008)
Also notice that there is a distinction between Chrysler brand and Chrysler LLC which encompasses Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep.
n8new 4:34PM (11/03/2008)
It's easier to have "enough money to stay afloat" when you don't have billions is legacy healthcare, pension, and other union costs. Quality and fuel efficiency obviously isn't as much of an issue since GM still sells far more vehicles in the US than Honda. The bigger issue is that Honda and other smaller foreign manufacturers are able to sell far fewer vehicles in the US AT A PROFIT.
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Andrew L 4:42PM (11/03/2008)
Hey! Lincoln beat Infiniti in sales! go MKS!
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B-NOIT 7:10PM (11/04/2008)
...as they did last year.
Chase 4:51PM (11/03/2008)
Mini, Audi, VW, BMW.
Moral of the story: Premium small cars win.
Reply
Chase 5:04PM (11/03/2008)
In case anyone was wondering, VWoA (Audi+VW) had a 5.5% total reduction.
AB: why doesn't VW group have a company listing? They make practically the same sales as BMW's brands.
Jeff Fields 8:38PM (11/03/2008)
Audi sales should not be lumped together with VW since most of their dealers are stand alone. VW Group combines Lamborghini, Audi, Bugatti, Seat, Skoda, and VW. Some of the models (Seat and Skoda) aren't available in the United States. Besides they represent a completely different buyer the way that Lexus does to Toyota, Acura to Honda, and Infiniti to Nissan. Audi actually surpassed Infiniti sales again this month. They must doing something right over there in Ingostadt.
Richard S. 9:05PM (11/03/2008)
Truly amazing. If the sales keep depressed at this rates, there will be lots of pent-up demand when the situation normalizes. One hopes that the Big 2.1 will still be there with a full line of cars and trucks to take advantage of it.
I do wonder if there is a silver-lining: Will these drop in sales lead to residuals for the Big 2.1 cars to improve vis-a-vis the foreign competition?
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Soccer Mom 5:11PM (11/03/2008)
Perhaps no.
The number of cars sold in the previous years was caused by the excesses due to leveraging (borrowing that is). 4 cars for a family of 2? That is OK if both are millionaires. In reality, it wasn't uncommon to see more cars than family members in the average middle-class household. In many cases, there was no justification for owning that many vehicles beside "I just want a truck for weekends, a sports car for evenings and a sedan to drive to work". Based on where the economy is heading - quite steep deleveraging - I doubt there will be conditions for such excesses in the nearest future.