Sales Snippets - June 2008
US sales
There’s blood in automotive showrooms right across the US today as figures are released for June 2008. It seems Honda reaped rewards for being Japanese (i.e. reliable) and somewhat interesting. Their sales went up 13% in June.
Everyone else was down, and in a big, BIG way. I’ll let my inbox tell the story:
Normally, I might get one or two overnight news alerts from Automotive News. This morning there were six of them and they were all concerned with sales.
- Chrysler DOWN 36%
Nissan DOWN 18%
GM DOWN 19%
Toyota DOWN 12%
Ford DOWN 28%
Honda UP 14%
So it was a bad month for almost everyone. The dealers who escaped the “bad” description were the aforementioned Honda dealers (for whom it was good) and Saab dealers, for whom the word “bad” isn’t nearly descriptive enough.
Saab dealers in the US sold 1,872 vehicles in June, which was a 57.1% drop in sales in comparison with June last year (4,361 sales). The numbers were as follows:
- Saab 9-3 - 1,442 (3,185)
Saab 9-5 - 266 (607)
Saab 9-7x - 162 (543)
Saab 9-2x - 0 (2)
The percentage losses are huge, but it pays to put it in perspective. Last year Saab were offering some rather large incentives to clear out 2007 stocks over the summer, prior to the 2008 model coming online. They had the 60th Anniversary models, too, which were great value. These incentives got even bigger in July 07, so watch out for big percentage drops this month, too.
This year, they’ve recently introduced some financing incentives, but the cash on the hood isn’t anywhere near what it was last year. Add to that the financial issues facing a lot of people in the US this year and it’s a problematic mix.
——
Swedish sales
Here’s the Swedish sales data that came in from ctm, overnight:
Total Market
Jun: -9.5%
Jan-Jun: -8.2%
1: Volvo V70
Jun: 2056 vehicles
Jan-Jun: 11727
Market share this year: 8.4%
2: Saab 9-3
Jun: 1224 vehicles, -7.2%
Jan-Jun: 7136, +9.3%
Market share this year: 5.1% (4.3%)
3: Volvo V50
Jun: 1125 vehicles, +52.6%
Jan-Jun: 6195, +5.3%
Market share this year: 4.4% (3.9%)
4: VW Golf
Jun: 1125 vehicles, +33.1%
Jan-Jun: 6171, +33.2%
Market share this year: 4.4% (3.0%)
5: Saab 9-5
Jun: 862 vehicles, -6.6%
Jan-Jun: 4163, -29.7%
Market share this year: 3.0% (3.9%)
—
105: Cadillac BLS
Jun: 15 vehicles, +114.3%
Jan-Jun: 190, +65.2%
Market share this year: 0,1% (0.1%)
Note: The Saab 9-5 is actually up two spots on monthly sale compared to May, passing Ford Focus and Audi A4. 
More from this category
- Saabs lessens losses in 2007 - plus July sales
- Saab US sales data - July 2008
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- Sales Snippets - June 2008
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It’s clear here what the buying public is saying. Saab’s are over priced, pure and simple. You get better value when you buy a Honda (despite their lack of soul). People aren’t looking for soul when they buy a car, they’re looking for value for money, a good level of comfort, reliability, style, safety, and good resale….
If you can buy a Audi or a BMW for the same price as a Saab then something is wrong. I love the brand and what it stands for but the cars just don’t stack up to their competition.
I used to feel for the car companies. You know what I’m thinking now-a-days:
Screw’em.
For years now it’s been excuse this and excuse that. It’s their own fault. Business 101 - give customers what they want.
Where are the diesels? Where are the fuel efficient cars? Where is the Volt, the 9-1? Where’s the bluetooth and iPod integration, the inexpensive Nav system? Trucks that can get 30 mpg. We can send a robot to Mars but can’t increase fuel economy!
These car companies shouldn’t look for blame any place other than a mirror. The writing has been on the wall for years. That’s plenty of R&D time.
Is it just me? Anyone else feel this way?
in somewhat related news…Lehman Saab is no longer. As one of the few stand-alone Saab franchises…in fact one that had been selling Saabs for over 25 years(along-side Volvo for most of those years), the brand has changed hands to a Cadillac-Hummer dealership. This is what GM wanted…
Honda has some great lease deals in the USA right now. You can get a Civic for $1990.00 down and pay $199.00 a month for three years - that is one reason behind the stellar sales numbers. Accord has similar deals. Right product, right price and right time. At camp GM, Malibu and Cobalt got creamed in comparison.
You have to wonder if GM will turn on the rebate machine at Saab after July 7th… In July of last year there was a $3500.00 rebate on the 9-3, and that went to $4500.00 in August (when I got mine). It made a good car a great deal.
Honda has also just launched the Fit, which is an apt name considering how well it does what its name suggests.
joemama - BINGO!
Tedjs - this is the price they should be, then we might see them starting to walk out the door. GM dumbed down the car but they never reduced the price.
EnG - The Fit did show a 100% sales improvement but they only accounted for ~10K cars out of about 90K cars. Accord and Civic both account for 40K each and that’s what the majority of people want. Everything else (Pilot, CRV, Element, S2000, & Odyssey) was in the negatives.
Just on a side note, this is the first time I’ve seen Honda offer 0.9% financing for 36months for their vehicles. This definitly contributed to their increased sales.
joemama - right on. Remember Saab’s SCV engine? Saab was working hard toward the next generation of it’s “more from less” concept and GM squashed it back in 2000/2001. Shortly after that, Saab introduced two excellent concept vehicles which could have been the basis for two great but sensible production vehicles, but those were set aside (by GM) in favor of re-badging a Chevy SUV, and the emphasis has been on getting the next Saab SUV to market ASAP. If GM had followed Saab’s corporate vision, they’d be in an excellent position right now in terms of their product offerings. Now it looks like they’ll be FORCED to move in that direction. Not a group of visionaries over there in Detroit, that’s for certain.
I was at my local dealer yesterday getting the 30k service on my 2004 9/3 and I have to admit that there wasn’t much going on in the showroom. (Ok, it was about 5:45 pm in the evening.) One of the mechanics was heading home on his scooter.
To be fair, with the high Euro, low dollar situation we are in at the moment, it doesn’t make much sense to drop the price on Saabs in the US as GM would likely be losing money on the sale. Hard to make that up in increased volume.
On the other hand, Honda builds many if not most of the cars they sell in the USA in US factories, so the low dollar doesn’t hurt them as much. Same with many of the other Japanese brands.
jeeez, GM’s stock dropped 15% today….future looks dim.
Richo ~ Do you really get better value when you buy a Honda? You get a bland generic car, a grampa car even, the Saab does stack up to the competition, it is still made where you think it is, and well at that and in the event of collision, it will save you, we don’t believe in killing off our client base. Saabs are hard to sell, out goes your margin, people do prefer worthless bling to functionality, but when they do move to the dark side they normally stay. Resale? Bring me a 3 series or an A4 to trade and they are worth the same as a Saab, bring me a Volvo and it is worth nothing. People need to look at the big picture ~ the Saab is a fine car to drive, great economy, smooth and a little off centre, and once again, it will save you. If you had the diesels, you wouldn’t need those Hybrid things at all.