Recovery watch: Auto sales rebound in October

[DrToast]

There was some distortion in July/August due to cash for clunkers, but excluding those two months, October sales were the highest for the year.

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. both said U.S. auto sales rose in October, their first combined increase in three years, as the industry rebounded from a drop in demand after the so-called cash for clunkers program.

Sales climbed 4.1 percent from a year earlier at GM, its first monthly gain since January 2008, and 3.1 percent at Ford, the companies said today. Toyota Motor Corp.’s increased less than 1 percent, Nissan Motor Co.’s rose 5.6 percent and Hyundai Motor Co.’s were up 49 percent,. Sales fell 0.4 percent at Honda Motor Co. and 30 percent at Chrysler Group LLC.

“The economy is beginning to recover,” Dana Johnson, chief economist at Dallas-based Comerica Bank, said in an interview. “We probably lost some car sales in September because inventory was so low they couldn’t make deliveries. Auto sales are now probably trending up and they should be up noticeably in the first quarter.”
http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aZnpEr926l7c&pos=2

The economy is recovery. Jobs will come soon. Don't fight it, pessimists!

[customerserviceguy]

1. I suspect a reason for a spiking in sales

Gasoline prices usually plummet as we approach winter, with the exception of the run-up to the summer of 2008 (driven by pure speculation), and the winter of 2008-2009 was no exception. Clearly, we are headed into another cold weather period where gas prices are rising instead of falling, and the reason seems simple to me: The foreign oil that America buys is being priced in depreciating dollars, caused by the vast increase in our borrowings.

As the American economy recovers, I see demand and inflation existing side by side, and high mileage cars will be at a premium. Right now, there's no better time to buy such a vehicle if you can swing it, you'll never see this combination of price, incentives, and low interest rates until the next recession.

Smart folks are getting high-mileage vehicles while the getting's good, if they can afford it. I plan on upgrading later this year.

[Zynx]

5. Alternatively, 9 million is simply an impossibly low rate of sales.

[Kdillard]

2. Thanks interesting. :). I am hoping 2010 will continue to show economic

growth. There has been encouraging news in many different sectors this week. Now it just needs to continue.

[Adelante]

7. Why is Hyundai up 49%?

Is there an obvious explanation? (I don't drive so I don't know much about it.) Thanks.

[Garam_Masala]

3. Cash for clunkers......was that in effect in October?

[Kdillard]

4. No. That has been over for a while.

[skipos]

6. That is pretty impressive considering it is so soon after CFC

I would have expected CFC to kill sales for many months.

[Zynx]

8. The overall rate of sales is so slow that it is likely sales will slowly march forward for a while.

[girl gone mad]

9. Nice spin.

Sales were flat when adjusted for the extra sales days in 2009 (IOW, on par with the very weak 2008). Chrysler's sales were down over 30%. The end of cliff diving is not "recovery". We'll see if the dealerships are successful in selling the inventory they've just bought in this restocking spree.

[DrToast]

10. There, there....it's okay. I'm sure you can find something else to be miserable about

The economy is recovering. Your desperate attempt to argue otherwise is just...sad. Try something else.

[girl gone mad]

11. I'm not miserable, just being honest about the numbers.

Chrysler sales were down 30.4%
Ford sales were down .6%
GM sales were up .4%

This is a less than stellar "recovery", by any honest measure. The bulk of these sales were to dealerships, who were restocking after the CFC program depleted inventory. Let's hold off on the hype until we see where the consumer is over the next couple of months.

[the other one]

12. The economy may be in recovery

but your bars don't show it. Wait until you see consecutive months over 13 million units before you start getting excited.