U.S. auto sales declined in April for an 18th consecutive month, but some analysts see signs that the auto market has hit bottom and a recovery may be coming.
Bloomberg reports, "U.S. auto sales tumbled 34 percent in April...as Chrysler LLC's slide toward bankruptcy helped shrink the industry more than analysts estimated." The month saw "Chrysler's Chapter 11 filing, the swine flu outbreak and GM still racing to beat a June 1 deadline to restructure without ending up in court, tempering any benefits from rising consumer confidence."
CNN Money adds, "Chrysler finished with a 48% decline for April," compared to results from April 2008. GM reported a 33% sales decline, while Toyota's sales dropped 42%. A few automakers, however, saw a slight sales increase over previous months, though they still posted losses compared to last April. "Ford, the healthiest of the Detroit Three said it continued to outperform rivals with market-share gains, led last month by record sales of the Fusion sedan. Honda Motor Co. (HMC) also saw its results strengthen, posting a smaller decline of 25% for April."
Hyundai, Reuters reports, saw sales drop by close to 14 percent.
Ford's results are big news in Detroit. Autoblog explains, "The natural order of things in the automotive world has been upset to the point that Ford (129,898 total units) has outsold Toyota (126,540 total units) in the United States in the month of April. For those keeping track of such things, this is the first time in over a year that the Blue Oval (consisting of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury, but not including Volvo) has moved more machines than the mighty Toyota." That result is mostly attributed to the new Ford Fusion sedan. "Ford moved 18,321 Fusions in April, which is a 21.7% improvement over last April and a record for any month," while "not a single Toyota nameplate posted sales gains in April of '09."
Some analysts are heartened by the month's results. Edmunds Inside Line reports, "Vehicle sales in April remained at the same 30-year-low levels seen in recent months, but auto executives and analysts believe, just perhaps, the bottom has passed." Analyst Jesse Toprak tells Inside Line, "We won't truly be able to call the bottom until summer when we can look back at three consecutive months of increase in the annualized rate of sales."
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