May 14
Today is Chrysler dealers day or reckoning.
From the humbe beginnings in 1925 when the company organized them selves to call the self Chrysler comes a shock wave today. Today 05/14/2009 Chrysler notified thier deals who would be the almost 800 dealerships to close. This is a little more than a job loss. This is many salespeople, service people, managers and owners that havebeen working, selling and repairing vehicles for years that have encountered an ubrupt hault on how they havebeen supporting themselfs and countless family memebers for over 75 years. Here is the list of dealers -> Chrysler Dealership Hit List
The two brands who lost and gained the most sales last month (MINI and HUMMER) sum up nicely what happened to auto sales during May in the U.S. Brands armed with small cars weathered the storm and big trucks and SUVs continued to nose dive. In fact, after 17 years worth of being this country’s best-selling vehicle, the Ford F-150 full-size pickup (42,973) has fallen for the first time to fifth place behind the Honda Accord (43,728), Toyota Camry (51,291), Corolla (52,826) and your new best-selling vehicle in the U.S., 
47.2% at 6,312 (5/07: 4,130)
-61.7% at 1,843 (5/07: 4,636)
Remember when I said 
28.6% at 4,713 (4/07: 3,382)
-49.8% at 2,380 (4/07: 4,375)
Though many news outlets will decry March as a horrible sales month in the auto industry, it wasn’t that bad and there are some notable successes. The reason it isn’t as bad as some will tell you is because most outlets compare the volume of cars sold last month to the same month in 2007, rather than comparing the average number of cars sold per day. Since there were two extra selling days last year (28 vs. 26), looking at the raw numbers is very misleading. All of our numbers below represent the change in the Daily Sales Rate (DSR) rate, so some brands that actually sold less overall did well by selling more cars per day.
26.4% at 4,289 (3/07: 3,655)
-23.3% at 3,451 (3/07: 4,847)
February 2008 will go down as the ugliest sales month ever in the history of By the Numbers posts. Out of the 35 brands we track, only four improved their daily average sales rate versus the same month last year: Honda (1.9%), Mazda (2.5%), Mercedes-Benz (3%) and our Biggest Winner, MINI (38.5%). Leap year is to blame, as the rare return of February 29th offered most automakers an extra to day to suck. 
38.5% at 3,415 (2/07: 2,368)
-36.1% at 14,801 (2/07: 22,225)
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. 
13.3% at 32,270 (1/07: 28,488)
-52.2% at 664 (1/07: 1,390)
Whoa, Mazda, slow down or you’re going to hurt yourself. The Zoom Zoom brand was the big winner in March with sales that rose an impressive 42.6%. Other notable gains include Saturn beating last March by 22.5% (and being the only GM brand on the positive side in sales last month) and Mitsubishi, sales for which rose 17.9% over March of 2006. 
-6.5% at 16,986 (3/06: 17,524)
10.6% at 8,020 (3/06: 6,994)
Almost all the sales numbers are in for the month of February, and it appears the good and bad news has been spread fairly evenly across the industry. Ford Motor Company and the Chrysler Group received the brunt of bad news, with sales down 13.5% and 8%, respectively. In Ford’s defense, sales to rental fleets were down 30%, so at least the Blue Oval is actively trying to ween itself from an addiction to fleet sales. General Motors, however, managed to eek out a small 3.4% improvement in sales despite being dragged down by a few of its brands like Buick (-29.5%) and HUMMER (-26%). Saturn, however, which sold more than Buick and HUMMER combined, imrpoved an impressive 59.4% thanks to strong sales of the new Aura and VUE. Of the major automakers, Toyota once again improved the most, gaining 12.2% more sales than last February.
59.4% at 22,225 (2/06: 13,945)
-29.5% at 15,108 (2/06: 21,425)
The numbers for January look worse than they actually are. Both Ford an General Motors saw sales fall around 20% compared to last year, but the drop is the result of a planned reduction in sales to fleet companies by both automakers, which will in turn improve the resale value of their vehicles reaching showrooms this year. The Chrysler Group managed to minimize the damage this month, thanks in large part to the performance of its Jeep brand that was up 14% this month. Some analysts and journalists are making noise that Ford fell to fourth place in sales this month behind GM, Toyota and the Chrysler Group. This is only true if sales of the Premier Automotive Group are not counted along with Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales, something that was never done before this month when it seems convenient to make a sensational headline. 
31.4% at 17,069 (1/06: 12,469)
-38.5% at 24,060 (1/06: 37,545)
As promised, we bring you to the complete, unabridged sales figures for 2006. Unlike the numbers for the month of December, we’re seeing a lot of little red arrows down there. Still, many of these numbers were expected. General Motors and Ford Motor Company, for instance, were both down for the year, 8.4% and 7.57%, respectively. Toyota Motor Company, meanwhile, ended 2006 up 12.9%. We’ve heard those two sentences all year long, however, why should the annual numbers be any different?
24.30% at 71,524 (2005: 56,727)
-31.79% at 20,683 (2005: 30,424)