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By the Numbers: January 2008
Posted Feb 7st 2008 4:56PM by John Neff
Filed under: By the Numbers
[b]GM starts year off strong, industry as a whole sees lower sales

Analysts and automakers alike have been warning us that 2008 is going to be another tough year, and January only served to prove them right.

General Motors, up 2.1%, managed to turn out a remarkably good sales month with every single one of its brands posting positive sales except for Pontiac (UPDATE: and Saab, down 25%, though its total sales are small enough not to affect GM's overall numbers by much). GMC even got a big push from strong Acadia sales (up 335.1% to 7,318) to grab the honor of being our Biggest Winner.

Every other automaker, however, saw lower sales last month compared to January 2006, though double-digit drops were avoided by all except Chrysler. Ford Motor Company fell 4.1% in January, a figure that could have been worse were it not for very strong CUV sales and a 44.4% increase in Focus sales to 11,600. Both Toyota Motor Co. and Honda America fell 2.3%, as well. Nissan North America took the second biggest hit with a 7.3% drop in sales. Chrysler, meanwhile, fared that worst with a 12% decline, though it claims this was a result of reduced fleet sales and was expected.

Check out sales figures for each individual brand below (the BMW Group and Subaru have not yet reported). Since there 25 selling days in both January 2006 and 2007, the numbers below represent both the percentage change in total number of vehicles sold and daily average sales rate.

Biggest Winner
GMC 13.3% at 32,270 (1/07: 28,488)

Biggest Loser
Jaguar –52.2% at 664 (1/07: 1,390)

BRANDS
Acura –14.2% at 11,168 (1/07: 13,017)
Audi 0.3% at 6,418 (1/07: 6,399)
Buick 6.1% at 12,749 (1/07: 12,013)
Cadillac 7.7% at 14,792 (1/07: 13,740)
Chevrolet 0.7% at 149,548 (1/07: 148,449)
Chrysler –17% at 34,372 (1/07: 41,486)
Dodge –12% at 69,884 (1/07: 79,461)
Ford –0.7% at 131,074 (1/07: 132,006)
GMC 13.3% at 32,270 (1/07: 28,488)
Honda –0.5% at 87,343 (1/07: 87,773)
HUMMER –23.4% at 3,050 (1/07: 3,980)
Hyundai –22.6% at 21,452 (1/07: 27,721)
Infiniti [IMG]http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/w

 

I am so glad to see GM up. I personally think they will have a good next FEW years, with some of the models they are bringing out.

This year might drop off a little, but from say November until at least November 2011 things will improve.

 

From a tool and die makers viewpoint, I've NEVER been this slow in February. Things generally slow down around the holidays, but will always bounce back. Some of the other shops have work, but nobody seems super busy. We are almost totally out of work. I've gone from 50+ hrs/week to I'm not sure I'm even going to have anything to do this week. Taking a voluntary 4 day weekend now, and Thurs off, because it's our anniversary. That will be about 27 hrs this week, MAYBE. Worked about 30 hrs last week. Not laid off yet, but if it gets worse, it HAS to happen. I can't live on $300/week tho! The owner told me to "work with him" and we'll get thru it. Generally, I feel that when it gets a little slow, it's "take it when you can get it" for time off, but this is getting scary. We've had 1 laid off, and more to follow, the owner told me.
If new tooling isn't getting built, then we are hurting as an automotive industry. Old style cars don't sell, but you can't build new cars if you can't sell cars sitting there. We build tooling for ALL the automakers. The auto industry as a whole is hurting BAD. Look at the mortgage rates dropping, It's not JUST the auto industry. Things are BAD! Wal-Mart and their "buy Chinese" policy has damaged the U.S.'s economy beyond repair. If we had to go to war, like WWII, what would we do, buy Chinese airplanes, tanks, and firearms?
I don't see things changing very much myself, because it's an election year.
IMHO.

 

My farther works for Tesma(PFC) up here in Canada. They make GM parts from Die Cast Alumminum. They slowed down alot in the past yr and the plant was only givien a yr left for operation. I am glad to see things are picking up.

 

look at the rest of those numbers though... GM is the only one up overall. we're still screwed.

 

banang...
What you said sounds like what's going on here in Windsor. Ford announced the permanent closure of the Essex Aluminum Plant, last week. This puts 600 more people out of work, and is the second of three Ford plants in Windsor to close. So far we still have the GM transmission plant, and the Chrysler minivan plant.

The hot topic in US and Canadian politics is the war(s) in the middle east. It should be about North American jobs being shipped overseas.

 

The hot topic in US and Canadian politics is the war(s) in the middle east. It should be about North American jobs being shipped overseas.

What they expect all of us to build war machines and bombs?

Or wait on government contracts to have a job?