Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., beneficiaries last year of “cash for clunkers” U.S. incentives, had the steepest August sales declines among large carmakers owing to the program’s end and a slowing economy.
Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, sold 34 percent fewer vehicles than in August 2009 and Honda’s volume plunged 33 percent. Sales for Nissan Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. fell 27 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
Asia-based brands had a combined 29 percent decline, compared with a 14 percent dip for U.S.-based General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, and topping a 21 percent industrywide drop.
While Toyota’s decline was likely, given the lift it got last year from rebates for trade-ins for fuel-efficient models, “this month’s results are even worse than expected,” said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for Santa Monica, California- based Edmunds.com. “Toyota still is suffering a hangover from its numerous recalls this year.”
U.S. auto sales last month were the slowest for an August in 28 years as model-year closeout deals failed to lure people concerned about the economy and their jobs. Consumers avoided showrooms as fear of a double-dip recession grows following the 27 percent slide in existing home sales in July, said Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends at TrueCar.com.
Industrywide sales totaled 997,468, down from 1.26 million a year ago, according to Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey-based Autodata Corp. Asia-based brands captured 46.9 percent of sales last month, down from 52.3 percent a year ago, while GM, Ford and Chrysler raised their market share 3.6 percentage points to 44.3 percent, according to Autodata.
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