February Car Sales Still Weak

Highlights include Ford Motor Company (F - Analyst Report). General Motors Corp. (GM - Analyst Report), Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC - Analyst Report), Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (NSANY - Analyst Report) and Toyota Motor Corp. (TM - Analyst Report).

Auto sales were very weak in February, but this is a continuation of an ongoing trend. Overall sales are down 41% and were the worst since 1981. The average incentive was $2900, which is up 8% and was unable to stimulate sales.

Ford (F - Analyst Report) sales were off 50%, mainly due to a tired product line and weak F-series sales. General Motors (GM - Analyst Report) sales were down 53%, with weakness in the SUV part of the product line. Chrysler sales were down 44%, even with average incentives of $5,500, which is 20% of the price of a car.

Honda (HMC - Analyst Report) sales were off 38%, which is 3% higher that the market and shows why they are the best of the "Big-4" automakers (Honda sources more of its content from the USA than even Chrysler). Nissan (NSANY - Analyst Report) sales were down 37%. Toyota (TM - Analyst Report) sales were off 40%. We suspect sales were weak in the SUV part of the product line. Hyundai continued to buck the trend and had flat sales, which implies that their "return your car if you lose your job" program is having huge success.

Summary: Get out there and buy a new car. This is the time to do it. High inventories and slow sales are the perfect backdrop to start "working the car lots." We recommend going to Honda and Chevy dealers as a start, as they have the best overall products in the market according to many metrics we monitored at the recent San Diego Auto Show.

Read the full analyst report on F

Read the full analyst report on GM

Read the full analyst report on NSANY

Read the full analyst report on HMC

Read the full analyst report on TM