DrUnBiased

Honda is actually trying to expand production capabilities in Europe.

http://world.honda.com/news/2006/c060928UKProduction/

According to my link below for July 2006 sales (couldn't find a recent one),Honda sales in Japan dropped 5.4% for the month of July compared to last year. Total YTD sales are down 3.2% in Europe.

As for the rest of the world, Honda sales are up:

Canada:+21.5%
US:+18.5%
Asia: +15.1%
Others:+14.5%
TOTAL WORLWIDE:+13.3%

http://world.honda.com/news/2006/c06...tomobileSales/

I would give you more recent link if I could find one. However, those numbers probably haven't changed by much in the last two months.

Maybe now you can understand why there is more demand for Honda's Civic and Fit than they can supply.

Honda is building a new plant in the US as we speak. Not to mention how many other that are being built worldwide. I don't think they would be doing that if supply was greater than demand.

BTW, my name says it all.

DrUnBiased

I think BMW can handle being 4th here when according to sales numbers they are already ranked the#1 luxury car manufacturer in the World.

doug_999

Hey, you find a way to get those German workers to not take time off - that's a union I would not want to mess with.

LexFather

In Japan, Toyota owns 40% of the market. Nissan+Honda= less than Toyota's market share in Japan. I just spoke to Lt. Lex who moved to Japan recently and he said every car is a Toyota there!

Thought about 5 sales. To BMWs credit, they offer the dog 525, which is good for over 1,000 units every month. No other car maker has such a base model in their mid-size class.

Since people buy them, credit to BMW. Take those sales out, and the top 3 race becomes VERY interesting

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

The 525 is probably a popular leased car for business daily driver (salesperson, realtor, etc.). I don't care for the look but the roundel still counts to many.

doug_999

True and with the new 6 in there (215hp I think) it is a lot quicker than the old 184hp engine. I know TONS of people that had the older 525 as a loaner and commented on how darn slow it was (both men and women). But even at 184hp with no sports package, the car handles really nice.

RON430

Don't want to participate in the usual juvenile comments but I wouldn't make anything out of the European prediliction to take August off. I would not believe any argument that bimmer had soft sales because somehow they were "surprised" by the fact that everybody takes vacation in August in Europe. These are large multinational companies and saying softness in sales in September was due to the European vacation cycle is like saying some Japanese sales are hurt by their golden weeks or any of the other holdiays around the world. Besides, all the other european makes, MB, Porsche, VW, etc. all had the same issues to contend with and if there was any benefit to be made with the holiday issue, you had better believe their PR department would use it when they release the sales numbers. The lead ins to the actual sales numbers in these reports are really laughable as they try to spin the numbers.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

strangely enough the 525 here has a 3.0, the 2.5 is still 184 hp (they use it in the X3 still, the 2.5 X3 has a 0-60 of 9.8)

525 with 3.0 215 hp
http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Sp...ries&trimid=-1

X3 with 2.5 184 hp
http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Sp...l=X3&trimid=-1

i really dont understand why they have two versions of the 3.0 that are not too much different

doug_999

Trust me Ron, it is really hard to find the BMW you are looking for from August until early October. I know, I've tried to buy/test drive the cars during this period and the dealers just don't have them. The cars just aren't made in August and they don't appear until October - so you have this dwindilng supply that occurs every year (you can check the sales figures - I swear!).

edit: note that August is normally not a bad month, you just have to take what they have.

doug_999

With the 2006 5-series, they dropped the 2.5 and went with the two different 3.0 engines. One has a more advanced intake I think (SteVTEC where are you) - and apparently costs more to make - thus the price dif.

Now with the 3-series, they are taking that "less advanced" 3.0 and kicking up the HP while dropping the more advanced one and replacing it with the twin-turbo 3.0L.

The new X3 however will have both of the 3.0Ls however as the 2.5 is now gone (from even the Z4 I believe).

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

Correct me of I'm wrong, but isn't that because the next model year production starts around August/September for BMW? Don't they slow production nearing August of the outgoing model year to keep supply lower as the transition to the new model year? Kind of like how Lexus supposed to be slowing production on the GS430. Anyway, that is what I always thought it was.

RON430

Doug, I will always trust you. Availability off the lot is an issue but it has no effect whatsoever in year over year numbers but, depending on how picky you are (I have never ordered a bimmer, just shopped off the lot) at least in 7s, I can get whatever I want within the hour. Mercedes is somewhat more limited in their S availability and all of this aside, I just wouldn't hang too much on unexpected sales impact from the August vacation, that's all. The domestics are normally not producing cars from mid July on for several weeks of retooling and there is never much problem with delivery. OK, you can raise the argument that they have a lot more on the dealers lots than they have demand but I just don't belive that the 330 550 sales in September would have been significantly more if Hanz wasn't off with his family at the seashore in August.

Gojirra99

By NICK BUNKLEY
Published: October 4, 2006

DETROIT, Oct. 3 — Sales of sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks rebounded slightly in September but not enough to prevent General Motors and DaimlerChrysler from losing market share to Toyota.





Falling gas prices, lower interest rates and higher incentives helped sales of light trucks increase 1.2 percent from a year ago after months of declines, while passenger car sales fell 5.5 percent, according to Ward’s AutoInfoBank. That allowed Detroit’s automakers, which rely heavily on sales of S.U.V.’s and pickups, to have one of their better months.

But in what has become a common occurrence, their performance was overshadowed by Toyota, whose sales surged more than 20 percent.

Toyota has the right image, said Jesse Toprak of Edmunds.com, which gives advice on cars. “Image seems to be the most important thing for a carmaker right now.”

Of the seven largest automakers, only Toyota, which accounted for 16.5 percent of the market, and Ford Motor, at 17.3 percent, increased their share. Sales of all Ford vehicles were were up 0.4 percent when adjusted for one additional selling day this September, Ward’s reported.

Ford managed to sell 21 percent more cars than a year ago, although a significant portion of those sales were to low-margin fleet customers. That is a practice the automaker has said it needs to minimize to make progress in its turnaround.

Toyota would have outsold Ford for only the second time ever had Ford not sold an additional 12,000 Taurus sedans to rental agencies in September. That increase made the Taurus, which will soon be discontinued, the eighth-best-selling vehicle for the month even though it is not available at dealerships.

G.M., which gained market share in August, lost ground in September as it sold 6.9 percent fewer vehicles. Sales of G.M.’s trucks fell nearly 5 percent, while car sales declined 10 percent, giving the company 21.6 percent of the market.

G.M. said it was reducing its fourth-quarter production target for North America by 20,000 vehicles, to 1.11 million. That cut is in addition to a previously announced reduction of 150,000 vehicles.

At DaimlerChrysler, Mercedes Benz reported its best September sales ever, while its United States-based division, the Chrysler Group, continued its slump. A bright spot for Chrysler, which expects to lose $1.5 billion in the third quarter before introducing new models, was a 60 percent increase in sales of minivans, one of its most important segments.

“The minivan is back,” said Chrysler’s vice president for sales, Steven J. Landry. “We seem to be lining up fairly well for the fourth quarter with all of our new product.”

To clear dealer lots for 2007 models, Chrysler and Ford on Tuesday announced incentives for October. Unlike last summer, when all three Detroit automakers cleared out inventories with “employee discount for everyone” promotions, each has large numbers of current-year models left over. Chrysler is offering a choice of no-interest financing for 60 months or up to $6,000 cash back on about two-thirds of its remaining 2006 vehicles.

Meanwhile, Ford is beginning a “Truck Month” advertising campaign, featuring the country singer Toby Keith, that will promote no-interest financing on 2006 F-150, Super Duty and Ranger pickups.

G.M. has no plans to follow its competitors with a similar deal, its chief sales analyst, Paul Ballew, said.

Ford’s new promotion sets up a marketing duel for the lucrative pickup truck market between Mr. Keith, singing “I Am a Workin’ Man,” and a series of patriotic commercials from G.M. set to John Mellencamp’s coming release of “Our Country.”

Automakers hope gas prices near $2 a gallon will help them sell trucks and S.U.V.’s. But they are not counting on consumers flocking back to big vehicles after many shifted to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the decline in gas prices and interest rates will provide some additional pluses for the industry,” Mr. Ballew said.

Analysts said gas prices would need to remain low for a sustained period, which is unlikely, for a major change in buying patterns to occur.

George Pipas, Ford’s chief sales analyst, said lower gas prices and interest rates might convince consumers “who were on the fence” that now is a good time to buy a truck.

“Our view is, quite simply, that the lower gas prices that we have been seeing are not going to pull anybody into this segment that didn’t want to be there,” Mr. Pipas said.

Mr. Toprak of Edmunds.com attributes higher truck sales in September to high incentives on pickups and S.U.V.’s more than to falling gas prices. Incentives last month averaged $5,532 on large S.U.V.’s and $4,990 on large pickups, compared with $672 on small cars.

Accordingly, Mr. Toprak said, dealers could entice shoppers to buy a truck by showing them those discounts and saying, “Think about how much gas you can get for $5,000.”

source : nytimes

doug_999

Their model year change over tends to coincide with the vacation - that part is true. But their 5-series is now changing over in March - still none are produced in the August timeframe.

Ron, like I said, I've been to the dealer lots in late Aug/Sept - the choices tend to be scarce. Let's see how October sales do - for this year (2006) - the sales trend is basically matching last year at this point.

RON430

I know. The truth is most everyone is implementing model changeovers this time of the year and it has some impact, especially if you order. But if you order you are going to get the next model year anyway so it ends up being a strange time. If I look at five series sales, they actually seem to be a bit better in the 550 this year than last. But any model changeover issues didn't seem to bother Toyota much but it should be interesting to see hybrid sales from October onwards as Totyota/Lexus tax break gets cut in half. No one else will have that to contend with that. As I said, the only one I really know about in bimmers is 7's right now and they are very plentiful at least around here. The prices aren't bad either, discounts even here in silicon valley. But the new LS pricing is still undercutting it by an amount that makes waiting to see it worthwhile.