Honda vehicle sales hit record

Industry has best month since ’08

A Toyota dealership sign glows over a car lot recently in Tustin, Calif. A better economy and extra demand after superstorm Sandy lifted U.S. auto sales in November.
A Toyota dealership sign glows over a car lot recently in Tustin, Calif. A better economy and extra demand after superstorm Sandy lifted U.S. auto sales in November.

— Honda Motor Co.’s record November U.S. sales paced the best month for the auto industry in almost five years as buyers returned to showrooms after disruptions caused by superstorm Sandy in late October.

U.S. light-vehicle deliveries rose 15 percent in November to 1.14 million, exceeding the 1.11 million average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Automakers had reported disappointing October results when sales slowed as Sandy approached, with the storm making landfall Oct. 29.

Sandy damaged more than 230,000 vehicles, including 190,000 in New York and New Jersey, according to estimates from the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Many of those vehicles must be replaced, giving November sales a boost.

Honda led major automakers with a 39 percent gain in deliveries from a year earlier, while Ford Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. also topped analysts’ estimates in November sales figures totals released Monday.

The annualized industry wide light-vehicle sales rate, adjusted for seasonal trends, accelerated to 15.5 million, beating the 15 million aver-age estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. It was the best monthly pace set by the industry since 15.6 million in January 2008, according to Autodata Corp., showing the auto industry continues to push the U.S. economic recovery.

“The overall health of the industry is good, clearly,” said Jesse Toprak, industry analyst for TrueCar.com, a vehicle data website. “There were clearly positive impacts from Sandy with a lot of consumers who didn’t even plan to buy but had to buy because their cars were damaged. That’s going to continue to help in December.”

Autos contributed 14 percent of the 2.2 percent average rate of growth for gross domestic product in the recovery that began in the third quarter of 2009 to the third quarter of 2012, according to data from the Commerce Department.

Honda, like other Japanese automakers, has recovered from earthquakes and flooding in Asia that affected last year’s results. Its sales were the company’s highest-ever for November.

Ford deliveries of cars and light trucks rose 6.4 percent, the company said Monday. Nissan sales climbed 13 percent. The automakers exceeded analysts’ average estimates for increases of 2.4 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively.

Ford said it plans to increase North American production in the first quarter by 11 percent to 750,000 vehicles. The automaker reiterated that it’s making plans to prepare for the combination of U.S.

tax increases and spending cuts, known as the “fiscal cliff,” should they occur at the end of the year and disrupt the economy.

“That is the biggest uncertainty out there over the next couple months,” Jenny Lin, the senior U.S. economist for Ford, said Monday on a conference call with analysts.

“We are watching it very carefully as to how the final package is and the final agreement is from the Congress and the administration.”

General Motors Co. sales rose 3.4 percent, the company said in a statement on its website. The automaker trailed the 7.6 percent gain that was the average estimate of 11 analysts.

Chrysler Group LLC, the U.S. automaker majority owned by Italy’s Fiat, said deliveries increased 14 percent, trailing the 16 percent average gain of 11 analysts. The company extended its streak of consecutive monthly sales gains from a year earlier to 32.

“There is nothing wrong with these numbers,” Alan Baum, principal of auto-industry research firm Baum & Associates, said Monday. “We are obviously coming from much lower numbers, and more and more people are coming back into the market.”

Deliveries of Chrysler’s Ram pickups rose 23 percent to 24,337. Ford said sales of its F-Series trucks climbed 18 percent to 56,299.

GM’s deliveries of Chevrolet Silverado pickups declined 10 percent to 30,674, while GMC Sierra truck sales slipped 2 percent to 11,726. The automaker said inventory of its full-size pickups ballooned to 139 days’ supply as of Nov. 30, from 110 days a month earlier.

Ford shares slipped 0.3 percent to $11.41 at the close of trading in New York. GM slid 1.4 percent to $25.51.

Toyota said it sold 17 percent more light vehicles in November than a year earlier. Still, that’s short of the 20 percent average of eight analysts’ estimates. Deliveries of Corolla compacts surged 40 percent to 22,616, and Camry sedans increased 23 percent to 28,765.

Information for this article was contributed by Keith Naughton, Tim Higgins, Alan Ohnsman and Carlos Torres of Bloomberg News.

Business, Pages 23 on 12/04/2012

Upcoming Events