Ford, Honda Say U.S. December Auto Sales Tumbled More Than 30%

[Wretched Excess]

yikes.

Ford, Honda Say U.S. December Auto Sales Tumbled More Than 30%

Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. said U.S. sales fell 32 percent in December, while Honda Motor Co. posted a 35 percent decline as the recession curbed demand in the world’s biggest auto market.

Sales at Ford, the second-biggest U.S. automaker, dwindled to 139,067 cars and trucks, from 195,105 a year earlier, the Dearborn, Michigan-based company said today in a PR Newswire statement. Honda, No. 2 in Japan, was down to 86,085 vehicles from 131,792, said Chris Martin, a spokesman.

Honda’s December slide dragged the company to its first annual U.S. sales decline since 1993, while the industry’s 2008 total may have been the lowest in 16 years. Last month’s federal rescue of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC failed to stem consumer pessimism and tight credit.

“If consumer confidence doesn’t snap back soon, it’s going to be difficult for the automakers,” said John Wolkonowicz, an analyst with IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. “It isn’t just GM, Ford, Chrysler that are suffering from this. It is the entire auto industry globally.”

GM and Chrysler, which received commitments last month for as much as $17.4 billion in U.S. loans, likely will say today they fared worse than Honda and Ford. GM sales declined 41 percent and Chrysler’s fell 48 percent, based on the average of 6 analysts’ forecasts.

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[Baruch Menachem]

I took a day off work  today to have my root canal re done.  I went most of the way by bike, and I noticed that even in January, bikes are still everywhere, even with gas prices way down.

People are re assessing their priorities.