February 2009 auto sales in total collapse at annualized sub 9 million, lower than January's numbers. Japan's auto production has all but stopped. Germany is now providing a credit for anyone who trades a 9 year or older can for a new one. tax credit coming to the US also in stimulus package, but doubt if it can save the US auto manufacturers.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...ANerc&refer=us
Ford Says Industrywide Auto Sales Fell From January (Update3)
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By Keith Naughton
Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co., the only U.S. carmaker to forgo federal government emergency loans, said industrywide U.S. auto sales fell this month from January, when the annualized rate was the lowest since 1981.
âWe donât know where the bottom is,â Ford sales analyst George Pipas told reporters today in Dearborn, Michigan, where the company is based. The rate may decline to 9 million cars and light trucks, from last monthâs 9.6 million level, he said. Automakers report February sales on March 3.
His comments came a day after Ford in a U.S. regulatory filing cut its 2009 forecast for industry sales by 1 million to as few as 10.5 million vehicles. The drop in consumer confidence is âof concernâ to the automaker, Pipas said.
Ford expects the industry sales rate in the second quarter to improve to 10.3 million, where it was in lastâs yearâs final three months, he said. The federal governmentâs stimulus package will be a âpositiveâ for the auto industry, with the effect probably coming after next quarter, Pipas said.
Industry sales totaled 13.2 million last year, the fewest since 1992, and have averaged more than 16 million this decade.
Ford pulled back on incentives this month, Pipas said. For the industry, the average incentive per vehicle rose 8 percent from last month to $2,698, said Edmunds.com, a Santa Monica, California-based provider of auto information, in a report today.
Incentives increased 30 percent to an average $5,566 for Chrysler LLC and 14 percent to $3,584 for General Motors Corp., while declining 2 percent to $3,430 for Ford, Edmunds.com said.
Sales this month by Ford excluding those to fleet customers such as rental-car companies may drop 40 percent, Pipas said. The automaker will produce fewer vehicles in the second quarter than it did a year earlier, he said.
Ford rose 2 cents to $2 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have declined 70 percent in the past 12 months.