Auto registrations fall again in March

Published Sunday, April 20, 2008

By Roy Eaton

Finding good news in the March auto registrations is like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. But, if you look long enough, there are a couple of bright spots, both in Wise County and in the nation.

Wise County General Motors buyers have definitely "taken a liking" to the new GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave crossover sport-utility vehicles. In March they outsold the long-time favorites Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL.

The Acadia is selling best with 10 registrations in March. But that may largely be because of a lack of inventory of the Buick Enclave which shows four registrations for the month. "Almost the minute an Enclave hits the ground we have a waiting list and it is gone," said Roy Young, general sales manager at James Wood Motors. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal counts the Enclave as one of the "fastest off the lot" vehicles in its weekly poll.

Wise County's three new vehicle dealerships registered 203 new cars and trucks to retail and business buyers in March, down 25 percent from March of last year. No single nameplate registered more than 100 vehicles in March. Those registrations do not include sales to national car rental firms, to governmental fleets or to the dealers own daily rental and parts delivery fleets.

Chevrolet was the leader in combined car and truck sales with 88 registrations followed by GMC with 47, Ford with 30 and Dodge with 26.

James Wood Motors was the leading retailer of new vehicles in March followed by Karl Klement Ford and Klement Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep. In used car sales, Klement's Dodge dealership was number two behind James Wood.

Wise County remains "truck country" with the top selling vehicles being the half-ton crew cab pickups from Chevrolet, GMC, Ford and Dodge. There has been a slight slowdown in the sales of heavier duty three-quarter ton and one-ton diesel pickups, perhaps because diesel fuel is nearing $4 per gallon and many buyers are reevaluating their needs to see if a gasoline engine might handle their work just as well as a diesel.

On the new car side, the all-new Chevrolet Malibu is gaining some traction and the gasoline miser Chevrolet Cobalt also had a good month.

The new vehicle sales difficulties are not the exclusive problem of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. In March Toyota suffered its fourth straight month of lower sales. Sales at Toyota, including the Scion and Lexus brands declined 10.3 percent over last March.

Chrysler also had a tough month with sales down 19.4 percent. "The market is tough right now for certain vehicles, especially pickup trucks," said Steven Landry, Chrysler's top sales executive for North America. "We have reduced our daily rental fleet sales which makes our sales numbers lower," said Landry.

General Motors sales in March were down 18.7 percent over last year. On the bright side, the Cadillac division, on the strength of the new CTS sedan, posted a 7 percent gain.

Ford blamed its 14.1 percent drop over last March to the collapse of light truck sales. There were a few bright spots for Ford also. Customers looking for more fuel-efficient vehicles latched onto the new Focus sedan, with a 23.2 percent gain over last March while the Taurus and Fusion also posted small increases. Sales of the Escape crossover were up 12 percent and the Ford Edge retail sales were up 35 percent. The Lincoln version of the Edge, the MKX, was up 14 percent in March while the Mercury version of the Ford Escape, the Mariner, was up 21 percent.

Jim Farley, Ford's top sales executive in the United States, said that the next three months may be the most difficult quarter for 2008. "I'd like to be able to tell you the worst is behind us, but I can't really give you that assurance," Farley said. He said he was especially concerned about the availability of credit for customers.