The top three US car manufacturers saw vehicle sales drop again in June, with General Motors reporting a 33.6% drop and Chrysler’s sales falling 42% from the previous year, but there was some stabilisation in the car market as Ford posted its smallest drop in a year at 10.7%.
Ford is the only car manufacturer not to have filed for bankruptcy during the economic crisis, with Chrysler filing for bankruptcy protection in April and General Motors joining them in June. Chrysler have subsequently emerged from its bankruptcy protection after Italian car manufacturer Fiat bought its top assets, but GM has been told that its financial support will be pulled if it does not get permission to sell its strongest assets by July the 10th.
General Motors is looking for court approval to sell its assets to a new company, which the US government will be the majority stake holder, but the deal has been opposed by GM’s bondholders, who do not want to sell.
US vehicle sales continue to drop despite large discounts being offered to car buyers. Analysts estimate that sales will increase over the next couple of months as the US introduces their ‘cash for clunkers’ scheme, which it hopes to encourage customers to trade in their old cars for newer models. Similar schemes have already been introduced in Germany and the UK.
1 Response
I think ford is floating on a sinking ship. this is why they sold Land Rover and Volvo.
Posted on July 3rd, 2009 at 7:23 am
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