Detroit's June Car Sales Set For Worst Showing Since 1990s

Financial Times:

June car sales data, due out on Tuesday, are expected to show the US auto market heading for its worst year in more than a decade.

The figures could also mark a milestone for Detroit's struggling producers if they show Toyota outselling General Motors in its home market for the first time, although sales incentives recently introduced by GM could yet keep it ahead of its rival.

GM's shares on Monday hit their lowest level in half a century as investors sold them ahead of Tuesday's sales results.

As oil prices rise, household budgets are squeezed and Americans stop buying large vehicles.

Read the whole story: Financial Times

Comments

[Raymondf]

Our new President whom ever it be. Obama or McCain is inheriting a mess Unemployment 20% or higher, gas 6.00 or higher, two maybe three wars, 1,000,000+ foreclosures. We are headed on becoming a third world Nation.

[elcojonu]

Time to get really serious about Hydrogen Fueled Vehicles(the fuel of the 21st. Century).
Petroleum's days are numbered.
Look for Japan and Germany to lead on this.
Detroit will go the way of the French and British Auto Industries; second tier, second rate.

[TroubleNYC]

Great time to buy an SUV...

[Raymondf]

Have one I fill up once a month, at 4.14 a gallon cost me about 70.00 a month.

[JoeBlough]

Build a better car, a fuel efficent car, and you will stay in business. It's just that simple.

[RobinSeattle]

Absolutely. I wouldn't buy an American car on a bet. I would love to be able to, but after a long history of selling poorly built products that eat too much gas and people being screwed on loans from GM's and Ford's financial arms, they have made a bed that nobody is willing to sleep in anymore.

When the history of GM and Ford, both of which are helmed by extremely inefficent layers of innovation stifling management types while they continue to lay off factory floor workers, they did it to themselves and I will have no tears for them when their doors close for good.

I will, though, feel sorry for the workers and local economies that the two company's CEOs and boards of directors have hurt greatly through incompetent management.

[ResistanceisFutile]

With out a doubt, Detroit's auto makers are Dinosaurs.

They deserve to go belly up.

When Regan gave them a helping hand , under the guise of protecting American workers' jobs, by imposing tarrifs on foreign made autos, it cost the American car buyers $250,000 per year per auto worker.

Was Detroit thinking more Geo Metros? No! They were thinking SUVs and fighting U.S. mandated milage goals.

[MilwaukeeDan]

RF, where do you get your "facts". Reagan never imposed any tarrifs to save the auto industry, that was motorcycles with Harley-Davidson, to save them. The government bailed out Lee Iaccocas(sp?) Chrysler, which they paid back early, every penny. How did it cost American car buyers $250k per year per auto worker, what are you talking about? If you look around at most Americans, they can't fit into a Honda Fit, that's why the SUVs, now you want to tell Americans how much to eat, they would eat you. Let's have all American businesses go "belly up" as you put it and lets see where we're at in a couple of years.

[Blutus]

Raygun put restrictions on Japanese imports.

[TheJibreelaMonsters]

a Geo Metro will not last in a Buffalo Winter

[MajorKong]

No, but an All Wheel Drive Subaru sure as heck will.

[MilwaukeeDan]

The economy is in the crapper, what do you expect with big ticket item sales? GM and Ford have some great products in Europe and some of those are starting to trickle into the United States. The new Corvette and the new Caddies show what GM can do here when pushed. Too bad the whole US R & D has revolved around the SUVs and pick ups. For many years, they let the Koreans design and build their econoboxes for the US market. With $4.00/gallon gas(and that's here to stay), it's time to start working on made in the USA econoboxes(and it might save this economy). GM, Ford, you have some of the worlds best engineers, use them.

[willo]

While Toyota was designing the Prius, GM was spending it's development money on vehicles like the SSR [a 5000 lbs. vehicle that carries 2 people] , different verieties of the Hummer [ an abomination that should never have been built] More SUV model's than you can shake a stick at.. There one claim's to green was the development of a hydrogen powered car [a product that there is no viable form of fuel for.
I'm amazed GM has lasted as long as it has. The company has been building the wrong cars for as long as I can remember. The sooner they go out of buisness the better.

[MilwaukeeDan]

willo, while Toyota was designing the Prius, they were also designing some monster trucks and SUVs for the US market because that's what the American consumer wanted when gas was $2.00/gal. The new Scion XB is 600 lbs heavier than the previous model with a much bigger engine. The original Camry had a 110 hp four cylinder motor, you can purchase a new one with a 260 hp V-6. GM spent billions on electric cars and did some lease program in California, it didn't work, they lost money. What I'm trying to say is all these companies are the same, they all want to make big money, they swing with consumer demands. They all have efficient cars they sell to the rest of the world, but there is always some excuse why they won't sell them here.

[KillTheMessenger]

The point is that Toyota designed for the present and the future while US car makers were designing only for the present. I don't think they were betting the house on the Prius back then. It was probably a relatively small ticket item. Most car companies spend more on advertising than on R&D if I am not mistaken.

[MilwaukeeDan]

willo, the SSR was based on the Traiblazer truck platform, and the Hummer on the large truck platform, dumb moves by GM(but it saved them a ton of money on R & D, it was just sheet metal R & D). Money CEO Waggoner probably pocketed himself.

[TheJibreelaMonsters]

GM was spending its money on a pension fund ... Even Toyota makes Trucks and SUV's

[NeoStar9]

Serves them right I say. When you go along with the oil companies and willingly produce low mileage cars with huge tanks while other companies from overseas were producing small and more fuel efficient cars you deserve what you get.

[MajorKong]

Much as I like to bash GM, I just had a new Chevy Malibu as a rental car and it was much, much nicer than the ones from a couple years ago.

[VivaZapata]

the irony is that as the US car manufacturers have tried to play catch up to the Japanese; they have been producing better product; while sales decline. it seems as though it is too little, too late. that painful gas isn't from indigestion.

[KillTheMessenger]

Did they produce a better product than in the past? Yes.

Did they produce a better product than the Japanese? Never.

[LiberalMillionaire]

Just shows how myopic Detroit execs are. They are so focussed on quarterly results (which directly control their personal income) they can't think beyond a few months.

Remember when GM bought out of FIAT? Well FIAT is doing fine while GM is faltering with inadequate products.

[ExPatriot70]

I didn't realize that GM bought out Fiat but I own a Fiat Punto and it is one of the best most dependable cars I have ever owned, evidently GM didn't screw with it to much

[MilwaukeeDan]

ExPat, yes GM had this strange merger with Fiat for several years and them wound up paying Fiat billions for a quicky divorce. The Punto is a good car with a couple of efficient diesel motors, I also like the new Bravo with the 1.9 liter turbo diesel, cool car.

[MajorKong]

I had a Punto as a crew vehicle once when I was deployed to Italy. Amazing how much you can actually fit into one of those little cars.

[letsgetsmart]

Another capitalistic fuse leading to a boom the public and the employees pay for and the top people like McCain just buy more houses with their profits. Capitalistic free market system sure works well. We are headed for a period where the government has to decide how many people are going to starve. How many are going to take all of those guns the republicans made sure the public has to go shopping with. Greed is such a wonderful thing. And we are so inventive with our language. Capitalism, free market system, don't they sound noble? When I was a kid, any company that had a few top people who made off with all of the cash and trashed a whole area economy was investigated. Even not so long ago the public was still able to howl about the enrons. These days any number of major companies can fold and a few run away with the cash and we just call it a recession. The republicans have hurt this country way more then most of have a clue. If someone walks up to me on the street and say we need to be nice to the corporations so they can create more jobs. It would be all I could do not to punch him in the face.

[Boomer50]

Well said.

[ExPatriot70]

I also agree 100%

[HotATL]

Good post.

[mindlessmissy]

i love my SUV .. i just don't Drive it ...

[Boomer50]

i don't hate GM. I own a Chevy S10. In the 90s, I worked for an electronics company that placed an exhibit in Disney's Epcot Center. During setup, we were introduced to Disney support companies. GM was one of them. In fact, in addition to a large exhibit, GM also had extensive office facilities of their own. We got to meet GM staff while we were there. I guess they assumed that anyone who got the Epcot Tour on the company dime automatically supported their political agenda. Well, with me, they were very wrong.

My impression of the GM folks was that they were dinosaurs. Mind you, in the 90s, I was still in my 40s. Even at that "advanced" age, I found the GM representatives to be ancient (in attitude -- I'm now 58, but I'm still more open and flexible than the fossils I met that year at Disney World).

OK.: GM is a monstrous company with tremendous resources. IMHO, they desperately need to address the market. An example of how they "aren't" addressing the market is a recent news story about a recall of thousands of hybrid model batteries. PLEASE! The Prius has been a perfectly functional hybrid alternative for more than 10 years, and GM STILL can't get it right????? A SERIOUS shakeup is in order ... NOW! Dear GM, get it together or die. I, for one, would prefer that you got it together.

[Paul]

Unions! It must be the unions!

Either that or a transportation paradigm shift. Cars are too expensive to own and operate for an increasingly hard-pressed middle class. Why should I have to give GM $500/month just so I can drive one of their giant vehicles to work and buy groceries?

Say goodbye to GM, Ford and Chrysler.

Say hello to mass transit.

[escobar]

As if the multi-million dollar CEO and management couldn't see this comming?