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the U.S. in April 2003, General Motors' Car Sales Plunge; Honda's and Hyundai's
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News,
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the U.S. in April 2003, General Motors' Car Sales Plunge; Honda's and Hyundai's
Truck Sales Surge
Auto on Info May 2003
In the U.S. in April 2003, General Motors' Car Sales Plunge; Honda's and Hyundai's Truck Sales Surge
In April 2003, General Motors' U.S. car sales plunged 23%, per the Associated Press' "April 2003 U.S. Auto Sales: Totals," accessible from the New York Times on the Web. This suggests that even GM's core consumer base may be getting a little finicky about reliability; nonetheless, it is not ready to send GM to perdition, as its sales of trucks held fairly constant, up 3%, and GM's total vehicle sales fell only 9% in April. By comparison, Ford's total vehicle sales fell 7% and Chrysler's 10%.
In the Hyundai-General Motors war, Hyundai struck another blow. Hyundai's U.S. truck (SUV) sales in April soared 62% and its overall U.S. April vehicle sales rose 9%.
Honda's U.S. truck (SUV and minivan) sales in April soared 55% and its overall U.S. April vehicle sales rose 11%. Honda has a couple of new SUVs and a rather tenaciously loyal customer base.
The U.S. government throws minivans and SUVs into the truck category in order to maintain its trade protectionist regime. This has given rise to the rather peculiar reporting system and made SUVs of all sizes, from Subaru's Forester to Toyota's Land Cruiser, trucks.
Toyota's U.S. sales in April held rather constant with slightly less than a 1% decline. The venerable and redoubtable Corolla, a legend of now more than 35 years, was up 32%1; Toyota's Lexus RX 300 and 330 were up 14%2.
The following table gives the historical and year-to-date U.S. new vehicle market shares for selected manufacturers. The year-to-date shares are based on AP's "April 2003 U.S. Auto Sales: Totals," as site manager was unable to find the usual sales total table in the May 2, 2003 issue of the Wall Street Journal. All other market shares are from the January issues of the Wall Street Journal.
Toyota and Honda are holding on to their new market share gains, so far Nissan clings to its, and Hyundai is closing in on a one percentage point gain.
It is possible, but unlikely, that General Motors' market share may fall to .26 by the end of the year. The critical question may be: How finicky might GM customers get about reliability?
1 "Auto Sales in April," the New York Times on the Web
2 Page B3 of the May 2, 2003, issue of the Wall Street Journal
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