September 24th, 2009 Car Sales Increase for two Automakers?
When you think of automobile sales you think of a plummeting market. Chrysler LLC led this bad news with first quarter sales falling 55%, GM was next at 49%, and Ford dropped 40%, all compared to 2008 first quarter totals.
Japanese automakers didn’t fair much better in the American market. Toyota’s sales fell 32%, Nissan 30%, and surprise, surprise even Honda’s sales fell 28%.
There are two automakers though that actually increased their sales totals and they did it by giving the people what they wanted. The companies are Hyundai and Subaru 14% and 8% respectively. They were able to do this in large part because of their incentives and warranties. Hyundai for example made it difficult in these hard times to pass up an offer like taking back your vehicle purchase with no credit penalties if you lose your job. How about 10 year/ 100,000 mile warranty. Making quality vehicles that don’t break down, get excellent MPG’s, and have good incentives should be the norm and not the exception.
Roger Hocker, Senior Consumer Advice Editor
