U.S. Auto Sales Slip in September
Source: The Wall Streeet Journal.
U.S. Auto Sales Slip in September
GM and Ford report sales declines amid pullbacks in fleet deliveries
By Anne Steele and John D. Stoll
anne.steele@wsj.com
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john.stoll@wsj.com
Updated Oct. 3, 2016 2:30 p.m. ET
Light-vehicle sales sputtered in the U.S. last month despite generous Labor Day deals, with four of the market’s six biggest sellers reporting declines from the prior September as industry volumes continued to plateau.
While the pace of sales remains historically strong, dealership traffic is leveling off after more than six years of steady growth. General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Honda Motor Co. posted declines. Toyota Motor Corp. reported a modest increase and Nissan Motor Co. was the biggest gainer in the group.
Retail demand has cooled from a robust clip set in the final six months of 2015. To keep volumes near last year’s record 17.5 million and North American factories humming, auto makers have cranked up spending on rebates and discounts and relied more heavily on fleet customers, including rental-car companies, government agencies and commercial clients.
Industry competitors spent nearly $400 more on incentives per vehicle on average in September compared with the same month in 2015, and incentives of $3,888 per-unit sold on average top the prior record incentive-spending level for a single month set in December 2008, according to J.D. Power. The last time incentives-per-unit were this high, GM and Chrysler were appealing to Congress for bailouts and sales across the industry were sinking.
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