US December auto sales fall 33% year on year

05 January 2009 23:11  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--US automobile sales fell to 734,093 in December, down 33% year over year, according to statistics released on Monday.

The weak sales cap a dismal year for the nation's automobile industry, which spent much of the year reporting double-digit year-over-year sales declines. The US government agreed to bail out General Motors (GM) and Chrysler due to concerns that both would file for bankruptcy protection.

GM attributed the sales declines to tighter credit and weak consumer confidence.

To boost sales, Chrysler has maintained its discount and financing programmes into the new year, the company said.

Automobiles are an important chemical end market, in that each has an average of $2,200 (€1,584) worth of chemistry, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC). Automobile parts include rubber hoses, plastic dashboards, catalysts, fibres, adhesives and coatings.

The following lists December sales.

	2008			2007
	Car	Truck	Total	Car	Truck	Total	% Change
Chrysler	20,535	69,278	89,813	50,088	50,273	141,150	-36
Ford	43,087	91,027	134,114	58,580	137,764	196,344	-32
GM	87,506	132,524	220,030	116,583	203,254	319,837	-31
Honda	50,918	35,167	86,085	73,186	58,606	131,792	-35
Nissan	38,507	23,595	62,102	52,618	36,937	89,555	-31
Toyota	79,259	62,690	141,949	121,581	102,818	224,399	-37
Total	319,812	414,281	734,093	472,636	589,652	1,103,077	-33

($1 = €0.72)

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