US August auto sales fall 19% year on year

03 September 2008 23:58  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--US automobile sales among some of the nation's top producers by fell 19% in August from the same month last year, largely as a result of lower demand for less fuel efficient pickups and SUVs,  companies said on Friday.

Automobiles are an important chemical end market, in that each has an average of $2,400 (€1,656) worth of chemistry, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC). Automobile parts include rubber hoses, plastic dashboards, catalysts, fibres, adhesives and coatings.  

Ford said truck sales fell to 98,344 in August, down 32% from 145,189 in the same month last year. Ford car sales fell 8.9% to 52,667 in August from 57,812 in August, 2007.

However, sales of Ford’s fuel-efficient Focus cars were up 23% and Escape autos were up 17% from August 2007, the automaker said.

Ford said it plans to produce 890,000 vehicles in North America in the second half of 2008, which is 50,000 vehicles lower than the previous plan.

"It's household income - and discretionary income in particular - that fuel the economy, so right now we're in a soft patch - we expect it to continue and the results that we see in August are very much in line with what we thought was going happen at the beginning of the year, so I would look for continuing declines in Ford and industry sales as we move through the rest of this year," said Ford sales analyst George Pipas.

GM seemed to be the most upbeat about the August sales numbers. It reported its August sales of 308,817 vehicles were down 20% from August 2007, but where up 31% from July of this year. The higher August sales fro the July low were propelled by GM’s employee-rate discount sale, lower fuel prices 0% APR for 60 months offer on pickup trucks.

"With the recent moderation in fuel prices, we're seeing some relaxation of pent-up demand in pickups and utilities,” said Mark LaNeve, vice president, GM North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing.

The GM North America third-quarter production forecast was at 920,000 vehicles (443,000 cars and 477,000 trucks) which is down about 10% compared with last year. The initial GM North America fourth-quarter production forecast was 875,000 vehicles

 

	Cars			Trucks
	2008	2007	%	2008	2007	%
Chrysler	26,016	42,308	-39	84,219	125,895	-33
Ford	52,677	57,812	-9	98,344	145,189	-32
GM	124,441	144,516	-14	182,844	241,013	-24
Honda	86,827	91,448	-5	60,028	66,894	-10
Nissan
Toyota	129,622	135,495	-4	81,911	97,931	-16
Total	419583	471579	-11	507346	676922	-25

(Additional reporting by Al Greenwood)

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By: Brian Ford
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