Wise auto registrations slip slightly in 2007

Published Thursday, January 10, 2008

By Roy Eaton

New vehicle registrations in Wise County slipped slightly in 2007, down less than one percent from 2006 totals. Decatur's three dealerships registered 3,404 new cars and trucks to individual and business customers during the year, down only 20 units from 2006.

Chevrolet was the top-selling brand in Wise County as it was throughout the nation. While the Ford F-series was the nation's top-selling truck, that honor whet to Chevrolet and its stablemate GMC in Wise County.

Nationally, Toyota grabbed the number two spot in sales away from Ford. It marked the first time in 75 years that Ford was not the number two seller of new cars and trucks in the United States.

As the year ended, GM had 23.5 percent of the U.S. market, Toyota 16.2 percent, Ford 14.8 percent and Chrysler had 12.9 percent.

The situation is not all bad for Ford, according to top auto analyst David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research at the University of Michigan. He told the Detroit News that while Toyota's ascent was a "milestone," too much should not be made of it. He said that Ford is making "real progress" in getting its North American automotive business into the black. "They're on the right track. It's going to be a tenuous couple of years, but they know what to do and they're doing it," he said.

American manufacturers had largely anticipated the sharp drop in market share and much of it was done on purpose. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler have all significantly scaled back their sales to large daily rental firms such as Hertz, Avis and Enterprise. Ford and General Motors have also virtually left the minivan business, enabling Chrysler and Dodge to be the top minivan sales leader in the nation, narrowly outselling the Honda Odyssey.

But for Ford and General Motors, the bring spots are in the so-called "cross over vehicles" while GM remains strong in the full-size sport utility market with the Suburban, Tahoe and Yukon.

Ford has the crossover segment leaders with the new Edge and Lincoln MKX while GMC has a strong contender in the Acadia, and the Buick Enclave is a huge hit in the luxury crossover market.

Wise County remains "truck country" despite a move nationally toward more car sales. Only Chevrolet, Pontiac and Buick managed to sell more than 100 new cars during 2007. Nationally, the Chevrolet Impala was the only American-made car to break into the top 10 sales charts.

For Ford, the F-Series trucks have been the best-selling vehicles in the United States for 26 straight years and the best-selling truck for 31 years. Nationally, the Chevrolet Silverado was number two, trailing the F-Series by 70,000 units.

In Wise County in December, the top sellers were the one-half and three-quarter ton pickups from Chevrolet, GMC, Dodge and Ford while the best selling cars were the fuel-sipping Chevrolet Aveo, the Buick Lucerne and Chevrolet Impala, Corvette and Cobalt.

James Wood Motors was the leading retailer of new and used cars in December followed by Karl Klement Ford in new vehicles and Klement Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep in used vehicles.

Most persons who borrowed money for their vehicle purchases did so from GMAC, the captive finance arm of General Motors dealers. Other top lenders in the county included DATCU Credit Union, First State Banks, Ford Motor Credit, First Financial Banks and DaimlerChrysler Credit.

Wise County new vehicle registrations tabulated in the office of Tax Collector Monte Shaw include sales to individual and business customers but not sales to national rental fleets, governmental entities or to the dealerships own daily rental fleets.