Sunday, December 03, 2006

November Auto Sales Sluggish

U.S. Auto Sales Turn In a Sluggish November
GM, Ford to Cut Output In North America in 2007; Toyota Posts Strong Results
By TERRY KOSDROSKY and JOHN D. STOLL, December 2, 2006; Wall Street Journal

U.S. auto sales downshifted in November to the slowest seasonally adjusted pace since October 2005, and General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. said they will cut North American production in the first quarter of 2007 amid signs of flattening demand.
The sluggish market didn't slow down all auto makers. For the second month this year, long-time No. 2 auto maker Ford was outsold by Toyota Motor Corp., whose sales rose 15.9%.
With mixed signals coming from the broader U.S. economy, sales of cars and light trucks in the U.S. rose 2.9% in November, compared with relatively weak year-earlier levels. That translated to a seasonally adjusted annual selling rate of 16.01 million vehicles. In October 2005, the sales pace fell to 14.8 million vehicles following the end of heavily promoted sales by the Detroit Big Three. U.S. consumers and businesses bought 16.9 million cars and light trucks in 2005....read more: here