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DETROIT, Michigan: While April sales of new vehicles in the United
States dropped to their lowest level since 1992, figures also show
that US consumers are buying smaller cars with better fuel economy
over trucks and sport utility vehicles.
“Smaller vehicles are going over big,” said
Toyota Motor Sales President Jim Lentz. “With oil prices at record
levels, compact cars and hybrids continue to lead the way.”
Other Japanese brands, such as Honda, Nissan,
Subaru and Suzuki, also reported sales increases last month as
consumers opted for small cars.
Overall, sales tracker Autodata reported that
despite a weak economy, sales of passenger cars increased by five
percent last month, while sales of trucks and sport utility vehicles
plunged 17.4 percent.
Car makers report that more consumers are opting
for smaller, more fuel-efficient four-cylinder engines when
purchasing new cars such as the Chevrolet Malibu, GM officials said.
“Consumer preference is shifting and we’re
shifting with it,” said Mark LaNeve, vice president, GM North
America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing.
“Throughout the industry, truck sales have
been soft,” he added, after GM reported a $3.3-billion
first-quarter loss as its truck sales plunged.
GM announced deep cuts in truck production
through the summer even though inventories have already been thinned
by a two-month strike at a key supplier.
Ford Motor Co. Vice President of Marketing and
Sales Jim Farley also said that sales of vehicles such as the Ford
Focus and Mercury Milan were helping the company shift its sales
profile away from truck and sport utility vehicles.
Overall Ford sales were down 9.8 percent,
according to Autodata. However, 63 percent of Ford vehicles sold in
April were cars or car-like crossover vehicles, while less than 38
percent were trucks or SUVs—the smallest percentage in more than a
decade.
Farley said Focus sales were the best for any
April since 2000, and that the hybrid versions of Ford Escape and
Mercury Mariner sold so well they were in relatively short supply.
Like GM, Ford also plans to cut truck production
in the next quarter, while boosting production of passenger cars.
George Pipas, Ford sales analyst, said the
company’s dealers also are reporting that consumers who bought
F-150 pickup trucks as a fashion statement in the middle of the
decade are now opting to purchase cars.
“People who didn’t need the utility of
pickup truck are trading them in,” Pipas said.
Even Toyota and Nissan, which mounted elaborate
plans to grab a portion of the US pickup truck market, have been
forced to change plans.
Bob Carter, Toyota vice president, said the
Japanese giant’s brand new pickup truck plant in San Antonio,
Texas may not reach full-capacity now until 2009 or 2010.
Sales of the heavily-advertised Toyota Tundra
pickup slid more than 13 percent last month and pickup truck sales
won’t improve until the housing market begins to recover, Carter
said.
Nissan, which has also seen sales of pickup
truck drop sharply, has announced plans to build a new line of
commercial vehicles at its pickup truck plant in Canton, Mississippi
to help fill up the assembly line.
Chrysler LLC, another Detroit company dependent
on truck and SUVs, reported a 17.6-percent decline in sales during
April. An increase in sales of compact cars failed to offset the
decline, Chrysler officials acknowledged.
Steve Landry, however, noted that the sales of
fuel-efficient vehicles such as Jeep Grand Cherokee equipped with a
diesel engine have been stymied by the big jump in the price of
diesel fuel, which sells roughly $1 more per gallon than gasoline.
“It’s clear that gas prices are weighing
heavily on car-buyers’ minds,” observed Jesse Toprak, executive
director of Industry Analysis for Edmunds.com in Santa Monica,
California.
-- AFP
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