Auto registrations fall sharply in February

Published Thursday, March 27, 2008

By Roy Eaton

There's nobody more ready for a spring selling season than Wise County's three new car dealerships. They saw sales in February plummet almost 15 percent below February 2007 as they failed to break the 200 registration mark for the first time in several years.

Nationally, uncertainty over the economy was blamed for the sharp drop in General Motors sales, down almost 13 percent from February of last year.

"February seemed to be a tough month overall for the industry," said GM's top sales executive Mark LaNeve. "Traffic was soft, business was tough all month. And lack of (consumer) confidence came into play."

LaNeve's comments came after renowned investor Warren Buffett said that America was in a recession whether the statistics show it or not. "I personally believe that this discussion of a recession hurts consumer confidence," LaNeve said.

Wise County is "truck country" with pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles always leading the sales charts, and talk of $4 gasoline may have many consumers rethinking their purchasing plans.

But in Wise County, it wasn't a particularly good month for car sales either with only the new Chevrolet Malibu showing signs of life. The new "crossover" sport utility, the GMC Acadia also did very well, but sales of its companion the Buick Enclave were slowed by a lack of inventory.

General Motors plans to introduce a Chevrolet version of the Acadia/Enclave this fall called the Traverse. Eventually the new crossovers are expected to replace the Chevrolet Trailblazer and GMC Envoy.

Despite some bright spots - namely the Focus and Fusion - Ford overall sales nationally were down 6.7 percent from a year ago. It was also a good month for the Ford Edge crossover. Lincoln - boosted by sales of the MKZ sedan and MKX crossover - saw sales increase by 2 percent. Both cars are luxury versions of the Fusion and Edge.

One significant bright spot for Ford was that it regained the number two spot in U. S. sales, topping Toyota in total monthly vehicle sales for the first time since June 2007.

Chrysler said its sales dropped 14 percent from last February despite a boost in sales of the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger mid-sized sedans. The Dodge brand showed a 6 percent increase in car sales.

All three automakers reported significant reductions in the number of sales to daily rental companies as they tried to boost the retail value and used car value of their cars and trucks.

In Wise County, Chevrolet was the leader in new truck sales, but Pontiac was number one in car sales followed by Chevrolet and Buick. GMC was second in truck sales followed by Ford and Dodge.

The Chevrolet and GMC half-ton crew cab pickups were the top selling trucks in the county in February.

James Wood Motors was the leading retailer of both new and used cars in February followed by Karl Klement Ford and Klement Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep.

Most persons who borrowed money for their new vehicle purchases did so from GMAC. Other top lenders in February were the First State Banks, DATCU Credit Union and Ford Motor Credit.

Wise County new vehicle registrations compiled from the office of Tax Collector Monte Shaw include sales to individual and business customers but not sales to national car rental firms, governmental agencies or the dealers own vehicle fleets.