June looked like someone had nuked Prius sales but 14,102 is nice: http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/document/July_Sales_Chart.pdf?ncid=12036 The 'bloom is off the rose' and I note:19,173 (09) - 14,102 (10) = 5,071 lower sales July 09 -> July 10 80,141 - 74,924 = 5,217, 2010 lead over 2009 If August sales do the same as July, there may not be any significant difference and we may see Prius sales in 2010 go down relative to 2009. Sorry, I didn't write this well but something has taken a chunk out of Prius sales or the market has hit something that has seriously depressed sales. Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 Column 5 Column 6 Column 7 Column 8 Column 9 Column 10 Column 11 Column 12 0 July 2010 July 2009 dM 2010 YTD 2009 YTD dY 1 14 102 19 173 -5 071[/COLOR][/B] 80 141 74 924 5 217[/B] Maybe this shows what I meant to say. Cash for Clunkers effect? New model sales boots effect? Bob Wilson
What may be giving a clue is found in the models that are doing well: Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 Column 5 Column 6 Column 7 Column 8 Column 9 0 Model July 2010 July 2009 YTD 2010 YTD 2009 1 RAV4 11 779 4 687 46 714 21 806 2 Sienna 10 381 7 067 53 482 45 481 3 Tundra 9 201 6 313 54 515 42 419 Larger numbers, sales increasing. Relatively low gas prices helped and we're looking at what customers bought: RAV4 - performance and space, crossover SUV Sienna - return of the minivan Tundra - pickups are popular and carry a lot of stuff http://www.detnews.com/article/2010...uto-sales-hit-highest-levels-in-nearly-a-year Now this makes sense. Weak economy and older vehicles needing replacement . . . maybe. Bob Wilson
Bad economy plus toyota losing sales to other car companies. Nissan, Hyundai Extend Gains as U.S. Auto Sales Cool in July - Bloomberg
By The Numbers - July 2010: How Soon We Forget Edition — Autoblog has numbers broken down by company. Yeah, I will buy that Honda and Toyota comparisons w/last year were definitely affected by cash for clunkers. Unfortunately, I think some of GM's rise is due to a sizable percentage of people mislead by GM's dishonest ads about having paid back the government, in full. They ought to forced to air TV ads and take out newspaper ads retracting that nonsense and showing how much they still owe the US taxpayer.
Those numbers don't show what really went on with GM they only increased 6.4%. I'm not sure why they relabeled things GM core, as it distorts the numbers from the closed divisions.
Sad thing is america is buying more trucks and SUV than fuel efficient cars. I think it has been the stability of gas price around $3 for the last six months.
Thanks. I didn't look carefully at the article. Now that I look, GM was was only up 5.4%. Their latest sales release is at http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9NTYxODZ8Q2hpbGRJRD0tMXxUeXBlPTM=&t=1 which is linked to from GM | General Motors: Investors: Sales Deliveries and Production Schedules: Current Release.
Yeah, looking at GM's release, it is sad. Compared to the same period last year here are the percentages by which some monstrosity class GM SUVs are up/down along w/supposedly "fuel efficient" GM vehicles. Suburban: +13% Tahoe: 65% Escalade: +17.2% Escalade ESV: + 33.9% Escalade EXT: +11.4% Yukon: +47.7% Yukon XL: +4.1% Equinox: -8.9% [press likes to call this "fuel efficient"] Cobalt: -22.2% Aveo: - 14.6%
Just goes to show how short sighted most Americans are, and how bad their memory is. For us forward thinking Americans (and I'm new to this group), this is the perfect opportunity to prepare for the future. I just dumped my pristine, low mileage, gas guzzeling full-sized 2007 pick-up for a new 2010 Prius, and was amazed at the price I paid for the car and the amount I was offered on my trade! The difference (out of pocket) was only $3400.00, an offer I couldn't refuse! Two years ago there would have been close to a $10,000 difference! We like to think we are preparing for the future by taking advantage of the depressed sales of true economy cars now. We already own a 2007 Honda Fit that gets 32-34 MPG City on my daily commute, and my wife currently drives a Honda CR-V that will probably be traded for a new Hybrid RAV4 if they aren't priced out of reach... Either way, if the gas prices sky-rocket as predicted, at least we can park the CR-V and have two economical cars to drive!
If these models also mapped income, it would suggest some income groups are doing very well and others, not so hot. What I can't tell is the degree these are business purchases versus personal. Bob Wilson
Yes, and yes. And moderate, unvolatile gas prices also. Doug Coleman Prius Product Manager Toyota Motor Sales, USA
I noticed the business article quoted TMS as still getting a higher than 50% trade-in of non-Toyotas. . . . How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. <GRINS> Bob Wilson
One natural or geopolitical disaster away from 4 to 5 dollar a gallon gas! The FE cars won't gather dust for long!
We already have a geological disaster with the BP oil spill in the Gulf and the gas price didn't even winked.
"America has an addiction to oil" -W Large vehicles are just one way to get a fix I wouldn't put one months figures out as a trend especially given the removal of incentives from a year earlier. Didn't the govenator save lots of oil with his green hummer. Schwarzenegger+Hummer+Green??? : TreeHugger
The oil spill didn't affect supplies, it wasn't even a producing well yet. A hurricane shutting down refineries or a flare up with Iran will definitely reduce availably and result in big spikes! The spill does prove that the American consumer is too self centered to realize their love of big is directly related to the BP and other disasters! Only when it hits the old wallet will this change.
