GM Leads the Way with a 53% Sales Plunge

Congratulations of sorts go to GM for its industry leading sales effort. Please consider GM�s 53% U.S. Sales Decline Leads Industry�s February Plunge.

General Motors Corp., surviving with federal loans, said its February U.S. sales plummeted 53 percent as the recession pushed industrywide purchases toward the lowest in almost three decades.

Industry sales at last month�s levels make it more challenging for Detroit-based GM and Chrysler LLC to become profitable and pay back $17.4 billion in U.S. loans. President Barack Obama�s auto task force may approve as much as $21.6 billion more aid for the two automakers and support for the thousands of companies that supply car manufacturers with parts.

GM�s February sales of cars and light trucks fell to 126,170 from 268,737 a year earlier, the automaker said in a statement. That included declines of 69 percent for Hummer, 59 percent for Saab and 57 percent for Saturn, three units the company is seeking to shed.

At Ford, sales of cars and light trucks dropped to 99,050 from 192,178, according to a statement from the Dearborn, Michigan-based company. The sales were hurt by a 55 percent decline to 23,614 for its F-Series pickup trucks. Sales for the Volvo unit, which Ford wants to sell, were also down 55 percent.

Toyota reported a decline to 109,583 from 182,169. Sales for the Toyota City, Japan-based company were dragged down by declines of 60 percent for its Tundra large pickup and 51 percent for the Yaris small car.

Honda said deliveries fell to 71,575 from 115,397, and Nissan said its sales fell to 54,249 from 86,219.

Volkswagen AG said February sales for its namesake brand declined 18 percent to 13,660. Daimler AG said sales of its Mercedes-Benz and Smart vehicles fell 21 percent to 15,614. Bayersiche Motoren Werke AG�s U.S. sales were down 35 percent to 15,805.

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea�s largest automaker, said it sold 30,621 vehicles last month, a 1.5 percent decline from a year earlier. In January, Seoul-based Hyundai was the sole major automaker to post a gain in U.S. sales.

Seeking To Shed Hummer, Saab, Saturn

What's with this seeking to shed nonsense? Just do it. GM needs to halt operations on all three. The brands are worthless. In fact they are less than worthless. GM has never in history returned a profit on Saturn.

How does GM do it? Volume, Volume, Volume. Volume on Hummer, Saab, and Saturn needs to be zero.

For more on this month's auto woes, please see Ford Sales Decline 48%, Toyota 32%, Honda 21%, Nissan 35%.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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