WDET News
- Auto Sales Plunge In June
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Jul 1, 2008Automotive & BusinessAuto sales in the U-S declined sharply in June from what they were one year ago.
WDET’s Quinn Klinefelter has more…
With the price of gasoline skyrocketing and consumers steering away from thirsty S-U-V’s and large pickup-trucks…many analysts forecast a steep decline in U-S auto sales.
The latest numbers bear-out those grim predictions.
General Motors remains the largest automotive seller in the U-S.
But G-M still posted about an 18 percent drop in sales during June.
That was better than Toyota…which reported a 21 percent drop in sales…its biggest decline in a decade.
The Ford Motor Company saw a 28 percent decline in sales…as demand for its once-lucrative S-U-V’s dropped by more than half…and even its crossover vehicles…which had been selling strongly until recently…dropped by about 18 percent in June.
Only Honda went against the trend…with its sales rising about one percent in June.
Automotive analysts blame the nation’s poor economic climate and rising fuel prices for the sales drops.But they also say some of the decline in sales could stem from the fact that automakers are running out of their supplies of hybrid and other more fuel-efficient vehicles…which consumers had rushed to buy in May.