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November 2, 2005

October Sales Down 14.1%, Domestics Lost Market Share, Cars Reach Near Parity with SUVs

October new vehicle sales met analysts expectations as reported Tuesday, with volume down 14.1% over the same month last year. Sales for the year are still up 1.2%.

Both domestic and international brands were down, but with domestics down 20.7%, compared to international losses of 5.4%, the net effect is that internationals gained market share, to a historic high of 47.6% for the month. For the year-to-date, domestic brands have a market share of 57.4%.

General Motors and Ford suffered the biggest drops, 25.6% and 26.1% respectively, but Nissan also fell 16.5%, as did Hyundai, 11.2%. Toyota and Honda essentially treaded water, with gains of 1.3% and 0.4% respectively. Chrysler was down 3.1%.

The consumer move away from SUVs and into cars may now be an actual trend -- 49% of new sales were for cars, 51% for light trucks, in October. Over the last several years the split has generally been that SUVs and light trucks account for 54%-55% of sales, with cars stuck in the minority position.

Posted by Frank at November 2, 2005 6:44 AM | Filed under Auto News | Ford | GM | Honda | Hyundai | Industry Statistics | Nissan | Toyota

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