auto sales

Ford, GM and Chrysler posted gains in February sales

The Associated Press — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:23:28 +0000

February was a good month for the Big 3.

The increase is a sign that U.S. auto sales remain strong even in an uneven economy.

Toyota tops GM in global auto sales

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 20:01:23 +0000

With projected vehicle sales of 9.7 million in 2012, Toyota has once again dethroned General Motors as the world’s top-selling automaker.

GM increased its global vehicle sales to 9.29 million but could not keep pace with the Japanese automaker as it unveiled new versions of its popular Camry model.

German automaker Volkswagen followed close behind with 9.07 million in global sales.

Christine Tierney of The Detroit News has more:

Auto companies expect good December sales

Steve Carmody — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 14:43:06 +0000

December is shaping up to be another good month for the auto companies.

Analysts expect to see strong December sales numbers for General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and other auto makers: Rising consumer demand, new models in the showroom, big year end deals.

Mike Wall with IHS Global Insight says they’re all reasons to expect December to be a good month.

“We still have a fairly old fleet out there…in terms of the average age of vehicles….and we have a consumer base that is starting to reengage the market,” says Wall.

GM offers big discounts to boost Volt sales

The Associated Press — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 15:00:01 +0000

DETROIT (AP) - General Motors is offering big discounts to boost sales of the Chevrolet Volt, an electric car that struggled to attract buyers until its price began dropping early this year.

Discounts run as high as $10,000 per Volt, according to figures from TrueCar DOT com, an auto pricing website. They include low-interest financing and subsidized leases.

Sales of the $40,000 car have quadrupled this year, and set a monthly record in August. They show that Americans, who have been slow to embrace electric cars, are willing to buy them if prices become low enough.

In this morning's Michigan news headlines...

Rebecca Williams — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 11:46:15 +0000

Enbridge may face record penalty for 2010 spill

Enbridge Energy is responsible for the pipeline rupture that spilled more than 843,000 gallons of tar sands oil into the Kalamazoo River and Talmadge Creek near Marshall, MI. EPA estimates that number is more than 1 million gallons. Steve Carmody reports the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has spent the past few years reviewing the events that led up to the oil spill.

PHMSA’s investigation found multiple violations of its hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations related to integrity management, failure to follow operations and maintenance procedures, and reporting and operator qualification requirements. PHMSA issued its notice and proposed civil penalty to Enbridge in a Notice of Probable Violation. The agency is proposing a fine for Enbridge of $3.7 million, which would be a record civil penalty. Enbridge has said the company expects to spend $700 million cleaning up the spill.

Michigan to receive $23.8 million from settlement of drug marketing case

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette says the state is in line to get $23.8 million as part of a $3 billion settlement of an improper drug marketing case against GlaxoSmithKline LLC, the Associated Press reports. From the AP:

The U.S. Justice Department said Monday that the British pharmaceutical giant agreed to the payment and is pleading guilty to promoting two popular drugs for unapproved uses. The federal government says the company also admits failing to disclose important safety information on a third drug. Michigan was among states that sued the company. Schuette says GlaxoSmithKline underpaid the rebates in owed for drugs paid through Michigan's Medicaid program. The Justice Department says the $3 billion combined criminal-civil fine will be the largest penalty ever paid by a drug company.

June auto sales

Analysts say U.S. auto sales continued to buck the otherwise poor economic news in June. Tracy Samilton reports:

Larry Dominique of True Car Dot Com says June car sales should be up about 18% from last June. That's a pretty healthy increase given worries about the recession in Europe and the barely moving unemployment numbers in the U.S.

Dominique says he will be interested to see what kind of cars people bought toward the end of June -- when gas prices went down noticeably.

"Typical of Americans we tend to have short memories, so as fuel prices go down we tend to go towards larger displacements and trucks."

Dominique says Honda and Toyota had especially good sales in June. He says the two companies have largely recovered from the tsunami last spring.

April car sales up, but not for all

Tracy Samilton — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:51:44 +0000

U-S car sales rose about two percent in April from the same month last year.

That's better news than it sounds, according to Michelle Krebs of Edmunds dot com. She says there were three fewer selling days this April than there were last year.

Krebs says small car sales remained brisk in April, because of high gas prices. But she says sales of midsize cars like the Honda Accord and Chevy Malibu are also increasing.

Ford, Chrysler and GM report higher sales in February

The Associated Press — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:30:48 +0000

Update 12:35 p.m.

Ford, Chrysler and General Motors all posted higher auto sales in February.

Ford sales were up by 14% compared with February 2011. Chrysler sales soared by 40%. GM posted a slight 1% increase.

Erich Merkel is an analyst with Ford Motor Company. He says rising gasoline prices influenced which vehicles sold last month.

January continues car sales momentum as great products lure customers

Tracy Samilton — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:08:14 +0000

January was another good month for U.S. car sales.

Analysts think most car companies will report they sold more cars in January than they did in the same month last year.

Part of the reason is pent-up demand. Many people held onto their old cars during the recession, and month by month, those aging cars are giving out. People are also feeling a bit more confident in the economy.

GM, Ford, Chrysler all increase sales in July

The Associated Press and Michigan Radio Newsroom — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 19:54:02 +0000

Update:

GM sales rose almost 8% in July, while Ford sales rose 8.9% and Chrysler sales increased 20.1%.

From the Detroit Free Press:

The Detroit Three saw U.S. sales increase in July and gained market share, as a troubling economy and weeks of worries about the U.S. debt ceiling continued to hamper a recovery in auto sales.
Chrysler had its best July since 2007 to lead Detroit’s automakers with a 20.1% surge, off a 33% gain in sales to individual customers. General Motors’ U.S. sales rose 7.6% last month and Ford’s grew 8.9%. Japanese automakers continued to lose share to their American rivals as they recovered from the March earthquake and tsunami in their country.
GM forecast July industrywide sales of light cars and trucks were flat from the previous year and slightly better than June. Consumers stayed out of showrooms amid news of climbing unemployment and bitter debate over raising the U.S. debt ceiling to prevent the country from defaulting on its loans tonight. President Barack Obama signed legislation today to prevent that scenario after the Senate approved the bill.

Original post:

From the Associated Press:

General Motors says its U.S. sales rose nearly 8 percent last month, led by fuel-efficient vehicles such as the
Chevrolet Cruze car.

In this morning's news...

Zoe Clark — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 13:48:37 +0000

Snyder Meeting with Fellow Governors

Governor Rick Snyder is in Washington D.C. for the annual National Governors Association winter meetings. The nation’s Governors had dinner last night at the White House where, the Associated Press reports, President Obama told them:

"Our federal system is a laboratory for democracy. In each of your states, you guys are trying all kinds of things. Oftentimes, your best ideas end up percolating up and end up becoming models and templates for the country."

Governor Snyder and other governors will meet today with President Obama and Vice President Biden.

February Auto Sales

Auto analysts are expecting to see an improvement in auto sales in February compared with the same time last year. That’s despite some interference from Mother Nature, Tracy Samilton reports. Samilton explains that it’s not unusual for auto sales to decline because of big snowstorms. But, one auto analyst told Samilton, auto sales still probably improved in February by 20 percent.

City Administrator Resigns

Eric Waidelich, Allen Park’s City Administrator, has resigned. The news comes less than a week after the Allen Park City Council voted to lay off the city’s entire fire department because of budget problems. As Rina Miller reports, “A movie studio-deal gone bad is getting some of the blame for Allen Park’s financial troubles. The Detroit suburb bought an old Visteon facility in 2008 for almost $25 million, banking on a plan to lease the property to Unity Studios. The deal flopped and now Allen Park is broke.”

January car sales strong...but storm threatens February sales.

Tracy Samilton — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 22:12:33 +0000

Most car companies had a better January than the same month last year, led by Chrysler and GM, which improved their sales 23%.

Ford sales improved 13%. The company had a stronger January a year ago than Chrysler and GM, which were both struggling to rebuild inventories, so Ford's percentage improvement is not as great.

Ford also terminated its Mercury brand in December, and officials say the company is deliberately reducing sales to fleets like rental car companies. A high volume of fleet sales can lower the residual value of a company's vehicles.

Auto sales expected to maintain momentum

Steve Carmody — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 20:59:00 +0000

December auto sales numbers are due tomorrow. It’s expected to be another good month for Detroit’s automakers.

After watching auto sales dwindle in the depths of the recession, auto companies have seen a surge in buying demand in recent months. December is expected to be the third straight month of strong domestic auto sales.

Analyst: Auto sales could reach 17 million by 2015

Zoe Clark — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 17:50:19 +0000

At a presentation to the Automotive Press Association in Detroit yesterday, Michael Robinet, director of global production forecasters at IHS Automotive, said U.S. auto sales could reach 17 million in 4 years.

Robinet predicts sales will exceed 12.8 million next year and 16 million in 2013. As the Detroit Free Press reports:

That would be a huge reversal from the historically low sales levels that brought the industry to its knees during the recent recession. The last time industry sales exceeded 17 million was in 2001.

U.S. car sales were up by 17 percent last month. The country's most popular automakers in November were:

General Motors
Ford
Toyota
Honda (American)
Chrysler