Toyota sales fall 31.7% as huge declines mount...

[javacontour]

GM, Ford hand in steep January U.S. sales drop
Toyota sales fall 31.7% as huge declines mount across the industry
By Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch
Last update: 3:28 p.m. EST Feb. 3, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - The auto industry's historic meltdown showed no signs of relenting in January, with Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. on Tuesday posting U.S. sales declines of more than 40% -- below even the lowest of Wall Street targets.

Read more Automakers Hand in Steep Jan U.S. Sales Drop

 

[javacontour]

Quote:


On a positive note, Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. bucked the prevailing industry trend by reporting a 14.3% rise to 24,512 units from 21,452 units in January 2008.



Interesting...

 

[StevieC]

Go Hyundai... I feel bad for Toyota and the Big-3 just shows how bad the Economy is.

 

[mrsilv04]

Hey... Toyota got their wish, they wanted to be #1 in the world.

Lesson: Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it...

 

[javacontour]

For the GM fans, unless my quick glance at the numbers is off, they sold more than Toyota for Jan 09 125K vs 117K for Toyota.

So 2009 is starting out with GM selling more in the US than Toyota, FWIW.

 

[Liquid_Turbo]

out with the old, in with a new generation of cars please!

 

[SuperDave456]

The latest thing that is shocking the "experts" is that we Americans went from a Credit based purchasing society to a Cash Only Saving society in like a 2 month period.

Yup, going to be hurting for awhile. The way we all did business has changed and it will take awhile for people to figure out what to do. In the mean time I am glad the automakers make cars that really can go 250k miles and up.

I went by my auto shop for them to take a look at my suspension, I keep hearing noises and they cant find anything, and asked them if they "saw an increase in business" due to people keeping their cars longer. The owner said "yeah I think there has been a uptick in business, but it is to soon to say how big that uptick is".

In other words, hold on, we havent hit bottom yet.

 

[demarpaint]

It could be that people are looking for less expensive cars, even more during tough times, which would explain Hyundai's increase. If they get greedy with their prices or quaility drops off from where it's at they'll get hammered too. No company is bullet proof, the Big Three proved that.

 

[double vanos]

It's hard to get someone to buy a car after they have heard about another 18,000 jobs lost last month.
Most folks just want to hang tight until the dust settles.
The positive side is that, eventually, companies will have cut costs so much, they will finally be in the black. Hopefully stock prices will begin to rise and things will begin to get better.

Now how long all this will take is another thing....

 

[Cutehumor]

This is why most automakers will have to cut brands. I'm not bashing GM but Toyota has three brands. GM has what 8 brands? From what I can tell, there are about 33 car brands available to buy from in the U.S market. If the market stays like this for several years, there are going to be brands that will have to close.

 

[dhise]

Subaru is also up 8% for January sales. Too bad I prefer the old easy to work on ones with on demand 4x4 instead of the full time awd.

Subaru must be cashing in pretty good on people downsizing from suv's.

 

[rszappa1]

Chrysler is down 55 percent.....I think that they are done....

 

[frank83]

GM was down 49%... Wow

 

[Cutehumor]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
Quote:


On a positive note, Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. bucked the prevailing industry trend by reporting a 14.3% rise to 24,512 units from 21,452 units in January 2008.



Interesting...


I think their ad "if you lose your job, you can return your vehicle no questions asked" really worked

 

[rszappa1]

If you purchase a new Chrysler you get a lifetime power train warranty......the cars life or the company??????

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
Originally Posted By: javacontour
Quote:


On a positive note, Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. bucked the prevailing industry trend by reporting a 14.3% rise to 24,512 units from 21,452 units in January 2008.



Interesting...


I think their ad "if you lose your job, you can return your vehicle no questions asked" really worked


That ad is a great concept, I wonder if there's any small print?

 

[Hermann]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
Quote:


On a positive note, Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. bucked the prevailing industry trend by reporting a 14.3% rise to 24,512 units from 21,452 units in January 2008.



Interesting...


You mean that for all the Hyundai commercials we have to endure, that they only sell 24,000 vehicles a month. The advertising cost per unit must be huge. Nobody runs more ads, at least here in KC.

 

[Steve S]

If you can't get a 7 year loan on them the cars aren't worth buying.... G.M. is building a huge plant in Brazil Good thing the taxpayers bailed out the CEOS.

 

[frank83]

US car sales fall below China’s for first time
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e99e8514-f234-11dd-9678-0000779fd2ac.html