US On The Road To Recovery
Tuesday, 1. November 2011
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It would seem that the motor industry is doing quite well over the pond in the US as their economy continues to grow mildly. Low interest rates and the need for many to replace cars that they have retained through the recession have been credited for the slight increase in sales over October last year. The sales of ‘light vehicles’ (cars) last month rose slightly to 13.3 million from September but up from 12.3 million in October 2010. Ford was up 6% whilst Chrysler saw a 27% increase.
3 out of 4 of GM’s brands showed a decline but the one that showed an increase, Chevrolet, accounts for 70% of its US sales, so not as bad as it looks. The big disappointment was the sale of electric vehicles.
The much hyped Chevvy Volt only achieved half its target in the first 10 months of the expected sales of 10,000 vehicles. Pretty much reflecting what is happening to electric cars around the world.
The Japanese brands have suffered from the disruptions in the far East with Toyota having to recover the ground lost resulting from the disastrous way they handled the brake problems on their cars.
The winner was Nissan who saw sales rise by 18%. Some big incentives (discounts to you and me) have been introduced by manufacturers to encourage sales with some unexpected incentives being introduced by the German luxury brands.
GM said that BMW were offering discounts of $1,000 more than they were on their Cadillac brand. So like the weather, all we can do is hope that what happens over there also happens over here. By Graham Hill
