Domestics Outperform Imports As Japan Quake Impacts Car Sales

DETROIT (WWJ)-The lingering impact of the earthquake in Japan kept car and truck sales down in June.   But, the three domestic companies appear to be weathering the storm.

"The domestic brands have been proceeding with a pace that's consistent with the first four months of the year," says Ford sales analysis manager George Pipas. "We believe that the principal factor in the softening that we've seen overall is largely due to that external factor."

While Toyota sales fell 24 per cent and Honda sales dropped 22 percent from last year, Chrysler sales were up 30 percent. Ford sales are up 14 percent and GM sales up 11 percent.
An annual sales rate of 12 million units is close to May's rate, which had been the worst of the year.

Honda and Toyota were hurt not only by lower inventories, but also by all of the talk of product shortages.

"Many consumers simply did not give a chance to a dealership, assuming they are not going to find what they are looking for, or that they are going to have to pay an arm and a leg for it," said Jesse Toprak, director of analysis with the online research site truecar.com.

Edmunds.com says that Honda inventories have fallen 44.3 per cent since the quake, and Toyota's inventories are down 40.5 per cent.

Domestic inventories rose nearly six per cent during that time.  In Chrysler's case, it was all about new products finally reaching dealerships in significant numbers.

"Availability of certain models is improving by the day, such as our all new Chrysler 300," said Chrysler spokesman Ralph Kisiel.

Sales of the new Chrysler 200 are 82 per cent higher than thsoe for the vehicle it replaced, the Chrysler Sebring.

GM's sales increase was fueled by a strong performance of the Chevrolet Cruze small car, which outsold the Chevy Malibu.

"As it stands now, it looks like Chevy Cruze will be the best-selling car in the industry for the first time ever," commented Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell, in a statement.

The Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain also had a good month.

"Fuel efficiency continues to drive consumer's decisions," said Don Johnson, GM's director of sales operations.

As we reach the halfway point in the year, Johnson says GM is seeing some momentum.

"We've gained a full point of share year to date," he said. "Sales are up 18 percent. All of our new products have had a good ramp up and are selling extremely well."

Analysts say the industry, as a whole should remain in low gear through July, with sales starting to pick up in August. September and October could see Japanese automakers vastly outperforming domestic brands, as Honda, Toyota and Nissan restock their inventories.

Ford's George Pipas says individual companies have good months and bad months. But, it all tends to even out over the course of a year.

"I think that by the end of summer, and we get into the fall, that we'll see a return to the 13 million sales rates that we saw in the first four months of this year."

Follow Jeff Gilbert on Twitter @jefferygilbert