UPDATE: GM Sales Drop 11% In '08; Company Loses No. 1 Ranking
21 Januar 2009 - 5:06PM
Dow Jones News
General Motors Corp. (GM) said Wednesday it's counting on
government stimulus packages being considered by nations around the
globe to help reverse skidding sales.
The No. 1 U.S. auto maker reported an 11% drop in 2008 sales,
capping a year in which GM lost its standing as the world's biggest
auto maker by sales to Toyota Motor Co. (TM) after 77 years.
GM, which sold 5.37 million vehicles last year, predicted the
environment will remain bleak through the first quarter.
In the U.S., January sales will likely come in at a seasonally
adjusted rate of around 10 million vehicle sales, similar to the
multi-decade lows seen toward the end of last year. Weak sales are
due, in part, to factory shutdowns that have curtailed auto makers'
ability meet demand from rental car companies, GM's chief sales
analyst Mike DiGiovanni said. GM, along with most major auto
makers, idled many plants for the month to get inventories in line
with anemic demand.
Conditions in western Europe will remain challenging, DiGiovanni
said, as nations struggle with a housing crisis similar to the one
in the U.S. He said developing markets that until recently boasted
rapid growth will notch modest sales growth, although they will
struggle with slowing growth and limited credit availability.
Stimulus packages being weighed by countries outside the U.S.
could boost global sales by one million cars and trucks this year,
DiGiovanni said.
"The global economy has slid into its deepest downturn since the
early 1980s," DiGiovanni said. Global sales for the auto industry
dropped by 3.5 million vehicles.
The declines for 2008 at GM were led by a 21% skid in North
America to 3.6 million.
Slumping sales in Europe, which like the U.S. has fallen into
recession, fell 6.5% for the year to 2.04 million.
Former hot spots in emerging markets reported slowing demand,
with sales rising 2.7% in the Asia-Pacific region and 3.2% in Latin
America, Africa and the Middle East. Still, Russia recorded 30%
growth while Brazil gained 10% and India rose 9%. China sales
increased 6%.
International sales rose to 64% of GM's total from 59% in
2007.
The dramatic decline in sales contributed to GM's financial
crisis, which led the auto maker to plead for $13.4 billion in U.S.
government aid at the end of last year to avoid a bankruptcy.
The auto maker played down the loss of the global sales crown to
Toyota, which sold roughly 600,000 more cars and trucks than GM
around the globe last year.
"They passed us in market cap, profitability and cash flow a
long time ago," GM Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson said
Tuesday when asked about the sales race.
GM shares recently fell 21 cents, or 6% to $3.29.
-By Sharon Terlep, Dow Jones Newswires; 248-204-5532;
sharon.terlep@dowjones.com.
(Kevin Kingsbury contributed to this report.)
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