U.S. Car Sales Surge 13.9% in Mid-December

The domestic auto industry opened an early Christmas present Friday, when it reported that sales of U.S.-built cars rose 13.9% in mid-December.

Analysts attributed the rise to expanded sales incentive programs, which auto makers recently implemented to reduce inventories of unsold cars.

All the companies making cars in the U.S. had increases except Honda of America. Industry leader General Motors showed a 4.7% increase for the 10-day period ended Dec. 20, compared to the same period a year ago. Ford was up 35.9% and Chrysler sales increased 20.5%. Nissan reported a 100.2% increase; Toyota, a 9.9% increase, and Mazda, a 151% jump.

Honda reported a 23.1% drop in sales, due mainly to a sharp drop in sales of the Honda Accord.

The industry reported sales of 175,629 units during mid-December, up from 154,187 units in the comparable period last year. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate was a strong 7.6 million units, according to a Commerce Department formula.

“That’s a pretty good showing,” said John Hammond, an automotive analyst with J. D. Power & Associates, an Agoura Hills-based automotive research firm. “It’s a little stronger than the last month or month and a half.”

“I think the primary reason (for the sales increase) is incentives,” said Joel Beck, an auto analyst with Argus Research in New York.

One industry analyst for Ford expressed delight and surprise at the unexpected Christmas windfall. “To be honest with you, the last couple of days seemed to spring to life. We don’t see any real reason for it. Maybe people just got tired of not buying cars, I don’t know. We’ll think of something.”

AUTO SALES

Dec. 11-20 % 10-Day 1988 change GM 82,919 +4.7 Ford 54,110 +35.9 Chrysler 26,996 +20.5 Honda U.S. 6,695 -23.1 Nissan U.S. 2,437 +100.2 Toyota U.S. 1,872 +9.9 Mazda U.S.* 600 +151.0 TOTAL 175,629 +13.9