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February auto sales figures poor

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Sliding sales figures affect future of auto... ::

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Gabe Gutierrez
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MID-MICHIGAN (WJRT) -- (03/03/09)--The car sales numbers for February are in. And the auto industry is on track for its worst sales month in more than 27 years.

General Motors Corp. says sales plummeted 53 percent from a year ago. Ford Motor Co. shows a drop of 48 percent.

Foreign automaker Toyota Motor Corp. says its sales fell by 40 percent. And Chrysler LLC was down 44 percent.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm was in Washington Tuesday asking for more federal help for GM and Chrysler. Tuesday's numbers show how bad they need it.

Car dealer Joe Hood of the Joseph Auto Group sums up the current state of the auto industry in one word: survival.

"It's just plain survival," he said.

Hood, the owner of several local dealerships -- including one in Fenton Township -- isn't surprised by Tuesday's numbers.

"I'm not as worried about Ford as I am the other car companies. I think Ford has a much better chance of surviving," Hood said.

He isn't so sure about GM and Chrysler. Those two are requesting billions of dollars in federal aid.

"General Motors is not addressing the real problem," Hood said.

That problem, Hood says, is a huge lack of consumer confidence.

"I don't think these companies have it in their control right now," said Kettering University's Prof. Craig Hoff.

Hoff says he thinks the automakers need to restructure more quickly. But that still may not be enough.

"I think more than anything else we're going to need to see some stability in the averages in the stock market. Everybody is losing money like crazy."

But Hood says the problems go beyond dollars and cents.

"I don't think that you're dealing with a monetary thing here. People have the money. They have the desire to buy a new car," Hood said.

"They're willing to buy a new car, but they don't want to make a mistake buying the wrong new car."