Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 6, 1992 TAG: 9201060021
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DETROIT LENGTH: Medium
AUTOMAKERS EXPECTED TO REPORT SALES PLUNGE
Automakers prepared to report today that 1991 was the worst year for new car and light truck sales in the United States since 1983.The industry was expected to say that some 12.3 million new vehicles were sold in the United States last year, down from 13.8 million the year before. The Honda Accord was virtually certain to be the best-selling car in 1991, as it was the two previous years.
Through the first 11 months of 1991, the Big Three held 70.4 percent of the U.S. market - down 1.4 percentage points from a year before - and Japanese automakers had 26.8 percent, up 1.9 points from 1990.
Analysts contacted last week forecast a modest upturn in the market share held by General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp. during 1992. Overall sales should reach 13.3 million to 13.7 million, analysts have said.
The Big Three "are going to hold share in 1992 and the reason is primarily political," said analyst John Casesa of Wertheim Schroder & Co. of New York.
Legislation is pending in Congress that would establish trade barriers against Japanese automotive imports if a timetable for reducing the $41 billion U.S. trade deficit with Japan is not met.
Analysts said part of a reason for a halt in the slide of Big Three market share stems from increasing confidence that GM, Ford and Chrysler vehicle quality has improved dramatically.
But they said Detroit automakers had better be ready to prove it; otherwise, customers who abandon their Japanese vehicles and try a Big Three product will head right back to an import in a few years.
"There are a lot of the yuppie types who are saying, `I'll give these guys a chance, but don't screw me this time,' " said Joseph Phillippi, auto analyst at Shearson Lehman Brothers in New York.