Car and truck sales up sharply for November
Advertiser News Services
Sweetened consumer incentives, enhanced vehicle lineups and an improving U.S. economy lifted new car and truck sales in November, automakers reported yesterday.
The month's new vehicle sales rose 8.9 percent from a year ago to a brisk annual pace of 16.8 million.
The numbers were so strong that General Motors, which offers the industry's biggest discounts, trimmed some of them yesterday in a hint that it would like to wind down the pricey incentive war it began in October 2001.
That would be a financial relief to car companies. The biggest incentives haven't prevented Detroit automakers from losing market share while Asian brands, largely without incentives, have gained.
A discount truce would be bad news for new car shoppers, though.
Ford Motor, the No. 2 automaker, was skeptical. GM has "a track record of reducing money on national deals and then putting it under the radar into other incentive programs," says Ford sales and marketing chief James O'Connor. O'Connor says, for example, that GM added $500 to the discounts available when GM credit card holders cash in accumulated points to purchase vehicles.
GM officials have acknowledged the last few weeks that they are trying to shift to targeted incentives and regional discounts where sales need help.
If GM is ready to wind down the incentives, allowing rivals to do the same, "Fundamentals may begin to improve for the auto group," says John Casesa, Merrill Lynch investment analyst.
Investors bid up GM's stock price 15 cents to $43.28, pushed Ford's down 20 cents to $12.92 and shaved DaimlerChrysler's 17 cents to $38.54.
GM's average November incentive was nearly $4,000 per vehicle, Wall Street estimates. Toyota, biggest Japanese automaker and No. 4 in U.S. sales, discounted only about $800 per vehicle, Wall Street figures.
GM raised finance rates yesterday on midsize sport-utility vehicles Buick Rainier, Chevrolet TrailBlazer and GMC Envoy to 1.9 percent on a 60-month loan from 0 percent, and to 3.9 percent on a 72-month loan from 2.9 percent.
Strong sales of those and other trucks powered GM's 22.2 percent November jump, the largest increase among the automakers.
"GM's November sales reflected substantial increases across nearly every segment," said John Smith, GM's group vice president for North American sales, service and marketing.
Helping, analysts and automakers said, is a strengthening economy that bodes well for business heading into 2004.
Other big gainers:
• Volkswagen, pushed by its Touareg SUV.
• Nissan, boosted by its Murano SUV and new-design Quest minivan.
• Toyota, helped by new-design Prius gas-electric hybrid, Sienna minivan, 4Runner SUV and Lexus GX 470 SUV.
November added to the prior 10 months' preview of the full-year sales champs:
• Toyota Camry: Best-selling car, unless Honda Accord pulls a December ambush.
• Lexus: Top luxury brand, though No. 2 BMW will claim more total sales if it counts its Mini small-car brand.
• Ford F-Series pickup: Top truck and best-selling vehicle of any kind.
USA Today and Associated Press contributed to this report.
