Automotive News - January 7, 2008 - (Page 35)

JANUARY 7, 2008 • 35 U.S. light-vehicle sales – continued Dec. 2007 Dec. 2006 12 mos. 2007 12 mos. 2006 Armada 2,656 Frontier 4,708 Murano (I) 4,199 Pathfinder 4,813 Quest 1,943 Rogue (I) 6,288 Titan 4,785 Xterra 3,911 Total Nissan Division truck 33,303 Total Nissan Division 76,900 Total Nissan North America car 52,618 Total Nissan North America truck 36,937 Nissan North America domestic 66,423 Nissan North America import 23,132 NISSAN NORTH AMERICA 89,555 Boxster (I) 245 911 Carrera/Carrera 4 (I) 838 911 Carrera GT (I) – Cayman (I) 554 Total Porsche car (I) 1,637 Porsche truck Cayenne (I) 1,254 PORSCHE 2,891 Baja 3 Forester (I) 3,992 Impreza (I) 5,376 Legacy 7,897 Total Subaru car 17,268 Subaru truck Tribeca 1,471 Subaru domestic 9,371 Subaru import 9,368 SUBARU 18,739 Aerio/SX4 (I) 2,309 Esteem (I) – Forenza/Reno (I) 2,172 Verona (I) 1 Total Suzuki car (I) 4,482 Grand Vitara (I) 1,331 Vitara – XL-7/XL7 1,548 Total Suzuki truck 2,879 Suzuki domestic 1,548 Suzuki import 5,813 SUZUKI 7,361 ES 330/350 (I) 8,005 GS 350 (I) 2,254 GS 430/450h (I) 325 IS 250/350 (I) 5,651 LS 460/600h (I) 3,257 SC 430 (I) 348 Total Lexus car (I) 19,840 GX 470 (I) 2,748 LX 470 (I) 132 RX 330/350/400h 11,835 Total Lexus truck 14,715 Total Lexus 34,555 tC (I) 3,507 xA (I) 14 xB (I) 3,785 xD (I) 1,638 Total Scion car (I) 8,944 Avalon 5,694 Camry 38,831 Celica (I) – Corolla/Matrix 28,582 Echo (I) 1 Prius (I) 14,212 Yaris (I) 5,477 Total Toyota Division car 92,797 4Runner (I) 7,421 FJ Cruiser (I) 4,079 Highlander (I) 14,714 Land Cruiser (I) 648 RAV4 (I) 13,816 Sequoia 2,567 Sienna 12,350 Tacoma 13,289 Tundra 19,219 Total Toyota Division truck 88,103 Total Toyota Division 180,900 Total Toyota Motor Sales car 121,581 Total Toyota Motor Sales truck 102,818 Toyota Motor Sales domestic 127,861 Toyota Motor Sales import 96,538 TOYOTA MOTOR SALES 224,399 A3 (I) 486 A4/S4 (I) 4,198 A5/S5 (I) 136 A6/S6 (I) 1,204 A8/S8 (I) 351 R8 (I) 70 TT (I) 484 Total Audi car (I) 6,929 Audi truck Q7 (I) 1,575 Total Audi (I) 8,504 Bentley car (I) 312 Eos (I) 1,010 Golf/GTI/R32 (I) 1,402 Jetta 8,940 New Beetle 2,676 Passat (I) 3,194 Phaeton (I) – Rabbit (I) 2,099 Total VW division car 19,321 VW division truck Touareg (I) 1,222 Total VW division 20,543 Total VWoA car 26,562 Total VWoA truck 2,797 VWoA domestic 11,616 VWoA import 17,743 VWoA 29,359 Domestic car 456,590 Import car 203,722 Total U.S. car 660,312 Domestic light truck 613,735 Import light truck 116,045 Total U.S. light truck 729,780 Total domestic light vehicle 1,070,325 Total import light vehicle 319,767 TOTAL U.S. LIGHT VEHICLE 1,390,092 3,126 5,728 6,831 5,977 2,754 – 5,575 5,822 35,813 78,663 52,773 39,002 71,591 20,184 91,775 261 1,125 3 523 1,912 938 2,850 394 5,242 4,374 9,021 19,031 1,582 10,997 9,616 20,613 1,130 – 3,121 54 4,305 2,165 – 847 3,012 – 7,317 7,317 8,736 1,989 299 5,538 3,865 486 20,913 3,029 514 12,779 16,322 37,235 4,996 2,000 3,330 – 10,326 7,955 39,539 – 29,378 2 9,291 6,226 92,391 8,895 5,849 11,700 350 13,784 3,377 16,090 15,857 12,468 88,370 180,761 123,630 104,692 119,770 108,552 228,322 580 7,289 – 1,253 432 – 22 9,576 2,321 11,897 653 683 995 10,253 1,935 3,568 4 1,646 19,084 858 19,942 29,313 3,179 12,188 20,304 32,492 451,372 220,265 671,637 638,522 121,611 760,133 1,089,894 341,876 1,431,770 31,632 64,397 76,358 63,056 28,590 17,808 65,746 51,355 398,942 941,200 635,975 432,263 840,365 227,873 1,068,238 3,622 12,493 4 6,027 22,146 12,547 34,693 1,127 44,530 46,333 78,428 170,418 16,790 96,345 90,863 187,208 16,740 – 42,113 315 59,168 19,538 2 23,176 42,716 22,763 79,121 101,884 82,867 21,314 2,067 54,933 35,226 3,927 200,334 23,035 2,468 103,340 128,843 329,177 63,852 9,547 45,834 10,948 130,181 72,945 473,108 – 371,390 7 181,221 84,799 1,183,470 87,718 55,170 127,878 3,251 172,752 23,273 138,162 173,238 196,555 977,997 2,161,467 1,513,985 1,106,840 1,445,297 1,175,528 2,620,825 6,353 45,411 625 12,001 3,826 240 4,355 72,811 20,695 93,506 3,990 12,744 16,399 98,951 31,021 37,183 17 25,445 221,760 8,812 230,572 298,561 29,507 129,972 198,096 328,068 5,446,574 2,438,027 7,884,601 6,940,948 1,328,403 8,269,351 12,387,522 3,766,430 16,153,952 32,864 77,510 81,362 73,124 31,905 – 72,192 62,325 431,282 898,103 553,615 465,634 803,797 215,452 1,019,249 4,503 12,045 85 7,025 23,658 10,569 34,227 5,241 51,258 41,148 84,442 182,089 18,614 108,297 92,406 200,703 12,221 1 48,579 2,302 63,103 26,931 8 10,948 37,887 248 100,742 100,990 75,987 23,665 3,725 54,267 19,546 5,847 183,037 25,454 5,595 108,348 139,397 322,434 79,125 32,603 61,306 – 173,034 88,938 448,445 8 387,388 27 106,971 70,308 1,102,085 103,086 56,225 129,794 3,376 152,047 34,315 163,269 178,351 124,508 944,971 2,047,056 1,458,156 1,084,368 1,364,565 1,177,959 2,542,524 8,040 49,862 – 16,219 5,038 – 954 80,113 10,003 90,116 3,856 3,394 17,089 103,331 35,110 54,208 235 11,610 224,977 10,163 235,140 308,946 20,166 138,420 190,692 329,112 5,706,510 2,424,435 8,130,945 7,152,286 1,277,758 8,430,044 12,858,796 3,702,193 16,560,989 This year’s U.S. sales forecast: Gloomy John K. Teahen Jr. jteahen@crain.com news ANALYSIS Detroit’s dismal decade U.S. market share now and then 2007 2000 Now that the industry has wrapped up its U.S. sales reports for 2007, it’s time to look ahead and back. Neither picture is especially pretty. For 2008, it’s hard to see more than 15.7 million to 15.8 million sales of new cars and light trucks. That guess is based on the general state of the economy, the job climate and the doddering mortgage market. A new car is not uppermost in your mind when you’re in danger of losing your home. If credit dries up, cut that estimate by several hundred thousand units. To the U.S. auto industry, credit is as important as steel. This forecast does not come from Wall Street experts, bank economists or denizens of think tanks. It is one man’s estimate, based on 53 years of watching the industry, its sales numbers and its market trends as a member of the editorial staff of Automotive News. It’s likely that 2008 will be another year of ups for import-badged cars and trucks and downs for the Detroit 3. This will not be the year of the long-awaited Detroit comeback. More sales tables ➤ 33 Perspective How the past 5 years rank for U.S. light-vehicle sales 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 2005 2004 2003 2006 2007 16,997,182 16,913,378 16,675,680 16,560,989 16,153,952 General Motors Toyota Motor Sales Ford Motor Co. Chrysler LLC American Honda Nissan North America Detroit 3 23.7% 16.2 15.8 12.9 9.6 6.6 51.1 28.2% 9.3 24.2 14.5 6.7 4.3 65.6 Source: Automotive News Data Center Source: Automotive News Data Center Lost and found U.S. unit volume lost or gained in 2007 compared with 2006 690,589 618,257 473,108 392,231 371,390 358,295 331,095 311,128 284,762 219,160 Toyota Motor Sales Nissan North America American Honda Chrysler LLC General Motors Ford Motor Co. Source: Automotive News Data Center Top 10 vehicles1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Ford F series Chevrolet Silverado Toyota Camry Honda Accord Toyota Corolla/Matrix Dodge Ram Honda Civic Chevrolet Impala Nissan Altima Honda CR-V +78,301 +48,989 +42,184 –65,855 –242,730 –342,977 GM’s diminishing lead GM’s U.S. unit sales lead over Toyota Motor Sales Source: Automotive News Data Center 2007: Not good, not bad Last year was not good, but it was not as disastrous as some would have you believe. U.S. sales came in at 16,153,952 units, the ninth straight year above 16 million. Those have been the nine best sales years in the history of the U.S. auto industry. Before 1999, sales reached 16 million only once, in 1986. That year Oldsmobile sold more than 1 million vehicles. Remember Oldsmobile? In 2007, as usual, Detroit 3 sales were down — a substantial 7.1 percent from 2006. By contrast, sales of import-badged vehicles rose 3.0 percent. The combined industry total was off 2.5 percent. U.S. market shares for domestic brands dropped for General Motors (0.9 percentage point), Ford Motor (1.6 points) and Chrysler LLC (0.1 point). The Detroit 3 had 51.1 percent of the U.S. market in 2007, down from 53.7 percent in 2006. '03 2,848,469 2,595,410 2,194,090 1,522,817 1,201,786 Perspective How the past 5 Decembers rank for U.S. light-vehicle sales 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 2004 2005 2003 2006 2007 1,542,761 1,484,503 1,432,380 1,431,770 1,390,092 '04 '05 '06 '07 U.S. unit sales Source: Automotive News Data Center Source: Automotive News Data Center Winners and losers Top 10 vehicles December 2007 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Ford F series Chevrolet Silverado Toyota Camry Dodge Ram Honda Accord Toyota Corolla/Matrix Honda Civic Nissan Altima Hyundai Sonata Dodge Caravan/Gr Caravan 55,069 53,560 38,831 32,118 31,255 28,582 27,190 25,151 24,872 21,326 % change in sales from 2006 Winners 1. Maserati 2. Mazda 3. Lincoln 4. Mitsubishi 5. Mini 20.5% 10.2% 9.1% 8.8% 7.3% –24.8% –24.2% –22.8% –21.7% –17.6% Losers 1. Scion 2. Jaguar 3. Buick 4. Hummer 5. Isuzu Source: Automotive News Data Center Source: Automotive News Data Center December: Ugh December sales were no prize. At 1,390,092 units, they were the lowest for that month since 2001 and down 2.9 percent from 2006. Ford Motor’s monthly domestic brand sales plunged 9.5 percent, and GM’s were off 4.2 percent. Chrysler bucked the trend with a gain of 0.5 percent. Market share for the Detroit 3 was 50.6 percent in December. The domestic brands sold only 17,142 more vehicles than the imports. GMC and Dodge were the only domestic brands to post gains last month. Hummer and Saturn, GM’s newest brands, suffered the same fate as most of GM’s veteran makes in December. Hummer was down 23.0 percent from last year; Saturn was down 12.0 percent. Lexus was miles ahead of all other luxury brands. But Lexus is approaching an even bigger distinction: annual best-selling luxury brand of all time. Cadillac set the record of 350,813 sales in 1978. Back then, Cadillac sold only cars; it hadn’t yet entered the truck wars. Last year the Lexus sales split was 61 percent cars and 39 percen http://www.autonews.com/datacenter

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Automotive News - January 7, 2008

Caddy V-8 is endangered species An industry turns green -- let's talk JAPAN TRIUMPHANT Ford, Microsoft to offer 911 service in Sync GPS will track fuel price Brose buys Siemens motor unit as step toward N.A. growth Expanding Meridian sees bright future Federal-Mogul CEO to stay Harbour Consulting sold Soft market threatens Tundra sales goal Ford dumps volume targets for dealer bonuses How HCCI engines work Visteon: 'We're leaner and smaller' Ford doubles regional promo money Gasoline-diesel combo moves closer to reality Rethinking retail: A hot topic at World Congress Denso expands hybrid plant CAFE fines may yield meager grants Some pay raise: To $8.3 million from $1 New Chrysler purchasing chief looks to Asia BMW adds jobs to boost S.C. output Continental layoffs follow production cuts at Chrysler Study: Indirect loan delinquencies soar No more peekaboo for Camaro Saturn's Lajdziak: GM is 'where I wanted to be' LETTER TO THE EDITOR Why buy Japanese? Here's an answer CAFE will put new entrees on auto show menu What an exciting way to start 2008 LETTER TO THE EDITOR 84-month financing is nothing new LETTER TO THE EDITOR GM ad policy shift is good for dealers JAMES B. TREECE Detroit show gets back on a global track LETTER TO THE EDITOR Too many dealers: Blame greed LETTER TO THE EDITOR Why not learn from Toyota? LETTER TO THE EDITOR A hot news item? Nah; it's 9 years old Suppliers to the 2008 Saturn Vue Supplier personnel Haldex farms out brake work The theme: Green and mean Dodge Ram gets interior upgrade BMW's 1-series coupe gets a soft-top counterpart Chrysler eye candy includes green jelly bean Chinese automakers increase their presence Concept offers a peek at Explorer's likely successor Ford goes global in styling its B-cars Forum concept is a clubhouse on wheels Dealers Simple safety: Green, amber, red Lexus SUV luxury will grow on you Personnel Gas prices boost Nissan car sales as trucks tank This year's U.S. sales forecast: Gloomy Ford: Tata is lead bidder for 2 brands Ex-Toyota manager goes to Audi Hyundai has new N.A. chief TRW buys Delphi brake assets Who's No. 1? Time for an official review Waning interest Solstice outguns Miata - again Once more into the legal fray? Lifan is the latest Chinese wannabe Things are looking up (and down) for MG Who has 1st Mustang - and what's it worth?

Automotive News - January 7, 2008

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