Vehicle sales in the United States fell by 27,4 per cent in October compared to the same period last year. However BMW managed to buck the trend.
Vehicle sales in the United States fell by 27,4 per cent in October compared to the same period last year.
By October 2002 sales were at 15,4 million units fr the year to date. This is the lowest figure in four years, while more than 21 million vehicles were sold by October last year.
General Motors’ sales fell by 32 per cent compared with the same period last year, with their dealers selling 391 070 new cars and trucks, while Ford’s sales dropped by 34,9 per cent to 271 167 cars and trucks. This excludes sales of the Premier Automotive Group.
Chrysler’s sales were down by 31 per cent. The US arm of DaimlerChrysler reported US sales of 150 254 units in October.
Mercedes-Benz only saw sales drop 1,5 per cent to 18 871 units.
This was Mercedes-Benz USA’s all-time best October. It broke the record of 18 443 set last year. The company’s big seller was the new E-Class (5 265 units), which was launched in the US recently.
BMW bucked the trend, reporting an increase in October sales of 19 634 vehicles, up 22 per cent.
BMW sold 734 new Z4 models in its first five days on the market. They sold 2 845 Minis. Topping its sales list was the 3-Series, of which 7 652 units were sold. BMW sold 2 054 7-Series and the X5 continues to sell well, with a total of 3 421 in October.
German manufacturer Volkswagen saw its sales drop by 19,4 per cent. 25 135 vehicles were sold, excluding the Audi brand, which sold 6 648 vehicles in October.
The Japanese manufacturers were also hit hard in the United States. Toyota dropped 21 per cent to 135 307 units, Nissan fell by 12,6 per cent to 57 536 units and Honda fared the best, dropping only 5,8 per cent to 103 256 units sold.
Analysts told that sales had peaked in July and August with manufacturers offering incentives such as free loans and cash rebates. Many of these incentives declined in September and it was thought the earlier rush of sales had taken sales away from September and October.