Auto sales tumble in August: GM, Ford down over 10%; Toyota, 34%

[SoCalDem]

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-auto-sales-20100902,0,323114.story


Jerry Hirsch, Los Angeles Times

September 1, 2010|10:37 a.m.
Auto sales took a dive in August compared with a year ago, primarily because of the "cash for clunkers" economic stimulus program that was in full swing in 2009.

But even adjusting for the comparison to the sales boomlet a year ago, the industry is turning increasingly pessimistic.

"The pace of recovery is significantly slower than the predictions we had earlier in the year," said Jesse Toprak, an analyst at TrueCar.com, a Santa Monica auto sales and pricing information company.

snip

[DJ13]

1. See, it IS a recovery!

Wall Street is doing fine!

[PBS Poll-435]

2. Odd that there would be an article about August sales when "August" doesn't end until tonight.

Not a calendar thing, but dealers get the RDR their August sales tonight so that they can be sure that their reporting represents bona fide deals.


:shrug:

[napi21]

3. I think we can all guess why Toyota sales are down. I sure

wouldn't buy one!Also, August is the prime vacation month, so people would either buy a new car to take on vacation (which would have likely happened in July) or wait until they come home and settle into normalcy again. This doesnt concern me right now.

[daylan b]

4. How is this August different than last August?

It's comparing this August's sales to last year's.

[PBS Poll-435]

7. Cash for Chevys

I mean clunkers.




:hide:




:yoiks:

[daylan b]

8. It was a rhetorical question

To point out the mistaken assumption in the person I was reply to's post.

[PBS Poll-435]

9. Oh. ok.

:rofl:

[napi21]

14. Cash for clunkers was started last August. Gave an artificial boost. nt

[daylan b]

23. And going on vacation in July?

n/m

[SoCalDem]

5. We are DONE buying cars.. (both in our 60's)

we bought our "last" car in '07.. a very spiffy luxurious Amanti and it will last us for as long as we are able to drive..It's paid for, comfy & we love it:)

[napi21]

15. I suspect we are too. Hubby is 68 & I'm 67. I haven't driven in over 12 years

because of a disability. We bought a 2 yo used Mercury Marquis in 2001 and it still only has 50,000 miles on it. I don't intend on buying any more cars either. I wasn't talking about US. Heck, we're the kind of car buyers auto co's HATE! Neither of us have ever purchased a NEW CAR. We always bought late mdel used cars becuse I could never justify loseing all that value at signing time.

Fortunately for the auto mfg's most people are not like us.

[SoCalDem]

20. My husband bought two new GTOs & we bought a Chevy station wagon new

but we could never afford to buy new after that.. Having 3 kids ( one with sky-high medical problems) & moving all the time ruined our budget:) ....new is nice, but we hate car payments (and could not afford them), so it's a personal choice for us.. I don't mind buying a clean used car with low mileage:)

[daylan b]

6. It's obviously a PERFECT time for an IPO

so we can make sure we get back the fewest pennies per dollar we put into GM possible.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. We were going to replace our 18 year old truck

we are not. We're not sure if there is going to be a job next year.

So there.

And the truck is in pretty good shape... crossing fingers.

[Hawkowl]

11. I will NEVER buy a new car

I'm 44 years old and have only bought used cars paying cash. I'm currently driving a 15 year old Subaru that I bought 10 years ago. 240,000 miles of which 170,000 are mine.

I think a lot more people will be adopting my practice as wages continue to fall, health care costs continue to rise, and the depression gets into full swing.

[SoCalDem]

12. Same here..we pay cash for used & then drive it until it's dead

My husband commutes in our 1991 Honda Accord EX.. we bought in in '93 with 12K miles on it..paid $9500.00. It now has OVER 240K..

His '88 dodge truck has 200K on it..we paid $4k for it FIFTEEN years ago

[Andy823]

13. Well I do agree

Cash for clunkers got a lot of people who were thinking about buying to buy earlier in the year, before the new models for 2011 come out. This should have been known by the car companies. My father in laws sold new and used cars for many years before he died. Spring is always the best time for people to buy cars because they get more incentives, and they usually have a income tax refund to spend. This year worked out well for buyers who not only received good incentives, had a tax refund check, but also got back money in the cash for clunkers thing.

Also right now there are not a whole lot of really impressive incentives to buy. If things stay like this till next spring, and I expect they will, I would expect to see more incentives to purchase new cars. The last new car I bought was as cheap as buying a used car because of low interest rates, PLUS cash back. Right now I see low interest rats OR cash back, but not enough to make that new car a better deal than buying a slightly used car for a lot less money!

[DainBramaged]

16. The whining in this thread is amazing

I'll never buy a new car; Used car for me, got a gazillion miles on mine and I will be SURE to buy another that lasts 25 years no matter how shitty it looks; new car, foolish people


Why do you folks think for ONE SECOND this thread is about you? Experts at zilch. FYI, used cars had a helluva of month, why you ask? because back to school, people don't BUY new for the kids. We see it every year. June is first car month for graduation, August is back to school month.


The people who buy new cars aren't stupid like you make them all sound, and without them, you'd HAVE NO CHOICE but to buy a new car.

DU, the smug nanny site for the new millenium.

[Codeine]

19. I usually buy used but DAMN buying new is nice.

I've only done it once, and that 100,000 mile warranty made it feel worth the price.

Plus the seats didn't smell like somebody else's ass sweat and Febreeze. ;-)

[Touchdown]

21. Oh! Ok.

But people who buy Macs are "dumb!"

Hypocrite!

[napi21]

22. I never said people who buy new cars are stupid! They're not.

I've always recommended buying a new car to my relatives who don't now anything about repairing a car nd they NEED that warranty. It's foolish that anyone would believe buying a new car is stupid because if no one ever bought a new car, there wouldn't be ANY used cars!!!

My personal decision was t always buy late model used cars because you take much less of a hit on the value & we've always done our own repairs. Since we are able to do that, I would consider myself foolish if I didn't take advantage of the used car market.

[alcibiades_mystery]

17. We almost bought a car two weeks ago

It was a bit too expensive, and the dealer didn't want to work with us. Fine. No deal.

[SoCalDem]

18. Wait a few months & they might be ready to deal.

It's just too damned bad that new cars cost so much. It's just a 5-6 yr commitment that too many people don't feel good about making these days.