Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 14, 1993 TAG: 9301140086
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: DETROIT LENGTH: Medium
AUTO SALES SUFFER JANUARY `HICCUP'
Sales of domestically built cars and trucks fell 3.1 percent in early January, reflecting the end of special year-end deals on some models, the automakers said Wednesday.Average daily car sales were off 4.5 percent and trucks sales fell 1.2 percent.
"It's not unusual to see this hiccup after seeing these tremendous pushes at the end of the year like we had with Ford and Honda," said Steve Girsky, an auto industry analyst with PaineWebber Inc. in New York. "The incentives came off and people stopped buying."
The projected annual rate for car sales, based on the first 10 days of the month, was 5.3 million, the same as for the 1992 Jan. 1-10 period but far below December's 6.2 million annual rate.
Light trucks sold at a projected annual rate of 3.8 million, the same as early January last year.
Ford's car sales in early January rose 12.1 percent, including a 28 percent increase for the Taurus, compared with a weak early January last year.
Sales of domestically produced Hondas fell 42.2 percent, with Accord off 60 percent.
Ford sold about 65,000 Tauruses in December, far beyond any month in the car's history and more than the total of all Chrysler Corp. cars sold in December. That left the supply of Tauruses short at many dealerships, with just 17 days of inventory at the end of December compared with a norm of 70 days.
General Motors Corp. sales were down 17.8 percent from a year ago, largely because of GM's move away from sales to rental companies.
Chrysler's sales, as estimated by Ward's Automotive Reports, were up 19.4 percent. Chrysler reports its sales only on a monthly basis.
Sales of Japanese companies building cars and trucks in the United States were down 9.9 percent.
Associated Press