By the Numbers - October 2008: "Thanks, GMAC!" Edition

Sales for the month of October 2008 were... ahem... not good. The auto industry in the U.S. has found a way to slide further into oblivion with only a few bright spots from Audi and MINI, the latter of which enjoyed monster sales last month we suspect on account of greater production capacity this year versus October 2007.While all the major players were down, General Motors, the largest of them all, was hit the hardest. Its sales volume for October 2008 fell 45% compared to last year. It went from selling an average of 11,923 cars per day in October 2007 to just 6,318 last month. Each of its brands were down, with HUMMER taking the Biggest Loser crown (yet again). The real story, however, is how close behind the other brands were, with Cadillac falling 55.1%, Buick 46.3%, Chevy 40.3%, GMC 52.5%, Pontiac 48.2% and Saturn 54.6%.What can account for GM's entire brand portfolio taking such a hit? GMAC, the financing arm of General Motors that's majority owned by Cerberus. Halfway through the month GMAC decreed it would only lend money only to buyers with a credit score above 700, which effectively wiped out in-house financing for the majority of GM customers. While dealers could still work with banks to secure financing (and were encouraged to do so), it appears the damage wrought by GMAC could not be undone. #comparechart { border: 2px solid #333; border-collapse: collapse; } #comparechart td { padding: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc; vertical-align: top; margin: 0; line-height: 1.3em; font-size: 80%} #comparechart th { font-size: 80%; font-weight: bold; text-align: left; padding: 4px; background: #eee; } #comparechart th.mainth { font-size: 75%; border-bottom: 1px solid #333; } #comparechart td.red { background-color: #f08c85; } #comparechart td.green { background-color: #b3e2c4; } #comparechart td.yellow { background-color: #ffffcc;}

BY THE NUMBERS - October 2008

Brand Vol. % Change Total Sales 10/08 Total Sales 10/07 DSR % Change Daily Avg. 10/08 Daily Avg. 10/07

Acura

-21.56%

10,108

12,886

-24.46%

374

496

Audi

0.3%

7,443

7,420

-3.4%

276

285

BMW

-13.9%

20,203

23,451

-17%

748

902

Buick

-46.3%

7,642

14,231

-48.3%

283

547

Cadillac

-55.1%

9,541

21,267

-56.8%

353

818

Chevrolet

-40.3%

107,313

179,825

-42.5%

3,975

6,916

Chrysler

-50.8%

19,903

40,440

-52.6%

737

1,555

Dodge

-27%

53,267

73,020

-29.75%

1,973

2,808

Ford

-27.9%

114,969

159,361

-30.5%

4,258

6,129

GMC

-52.5%

21,109

44,456

-54.3%

782

1,710

Honda

-25.66%

75,756

101,913

-28.41%

2,806

3,920

HUMMER

-64.6%

1,368

3,864

-66%

51

149

Hyundai

-31.1%

20,820

30,232

-33.7%

771

1,162

Infiniti

-28.5%

7,112

9,954

-31.2%

263

383

Jeep

-32.9%

21,360

31,856

-35.4%

791

1,225

Kia

-38.5%

15,483

25,185

-40.8%

573

969

Lexus

-35.2%

16,283

25,119

-37.6%

603

966

Lincoln

-27.7%

7,399

10,229

-30.3%

274

393

Mazda

-25.9%

16,442

22,201

-28.7%

609

854

Mercedes-Benz

-34.3%

14,996

22,820

-36.7%

555

878

Mercury

-47.4%

6,753

12,844

-49.4%

250

494

MINI

56.4%

5,272

3,370

50.6%

195

130

Mitsubishi

-19.3%

7,486

9,280

-22.3%

277

357

Nissan

-33.5%

49,833

74,992

-36%

1,846

2,884

Pontiac

-48.2%

13,054

25,182

-50%

483

969

Porsche

-50.1%

1,427

2,862

-52%

53

110

Saab

-13.2%

1,975

2,275

-16.4%

73

88

Saturn

-54.6%

8,583

18,908

-56.3%

318

727

Subaru

NA

Suzuki

-46.7%

3,482

6,536

-48.7%

129

251

Toyota

-21.3%

135,818

172,473

-24.2%

5,030

6,634

Volkswagen

-7.9%

15,889

17,260

-11.4%

588

664

Volvo

-52.1%

3,717

7,761

-53.9%

138

299

COMPANIES

BMW Group

-5%

25,475

26,821

-8.5%

944

1,032

Chrysler LLC

-34.9%

94,530

145,316

-37.4%

3,501

5,589

FoMoCo

-30.2%

132,838

190,195

-32.7%

4,920

7,315

General Motors

-45%

170,585

310,008

-47%

6,318

11,923

Honda Amer.

-25.2%

85,864

114,799

-28%

3,180

4,415

Nissan NA

-33%

56,945

84,947

-35.4%

2,109

3,267

Toyota Mo Co

-23%

152,101

197,592

-25.9%

5,633

7,600

October 2008 had 27 selling days versus 26 selling days for October 2007Update: Dodge numbers fixed.