Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




CAR TECH
US auto sales grow but GM, Ford stumble
by Staff Writers
Chicago (AFP) Aug 1, 2012


BMW hits skids despite strong China growth
Berlin (AFP) Aug 1, 2012 - German luxury carmaker BMW said Wednesday its net profits had dropped sharply in the second quarter of the year despite strong sales growth in Asia, especially in China.

Net profits came to 1.28 billion euros ($1.58 billion) in the second three months of the year, BMW said, a decline of 28.1 percent on the same period in 2011.

This disappointed analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, who had forecast a drop of 24 percent to 1.4 billion euros.

Nevertheless, turnover rose by 7.3 percent to 19.2 billion euros. The firm blamed high staff costs, greater expenditure on research and "intense market conditions" for the fall in profits.

The group stuck to its full-year target of beating last year's performance in terms of pre-tax earnings and sales volume.

Sales were sluggish in crisis-hit Europe (down 0.1 percent), solid in North America (up 10.3 percent) and stellar in Asia (up 25.6 percent) driven mainly by China.

BMW sold a total of 159,358 vehicles in China, a gain of 30.6 percent. Sales were also strong in Japan, showing a 27.3-percent gain to 27,737 vehicles.

Board chairman Norbert Reithofer said the firm had continued to perform "extremely well."

We have achieved new sales volume and revenue highs as well as the second best operating profit in the company's history", he said.

BMW employs some 102,007 staff worldwide.

US auto sales posted their best July performance since 2007 on Wednesday, but results were mixed as Ford and General Motors stumbled to a loss as rivals Chrysler, Toyota and Honda saw big gains.

While some analysts have expressed concern that the weakening economy and rising gas prices could impact sales, automakers expressed confidence that demand would remain strong.

Total industry sales rose 8.9 percent from July 2011 and came in at an adjusted, annualized rate of 14.09 million vehicles, according to Autodata.

That's up from 14.08 million in June but down sharply from the year's peak pace of 15.1 million in February.

"We are anticipating that the momentum generated through the first six or seven months will continue," Toyota division head Bill Fay said in a conference call.

Toyota has maintained its forecast for 2012 sales of 14.3 million vehicles, Fay said, noting that the sales pace has topped 14 million in all but one month so far this year.

"Signs of a housing recovery and good news on consumer confidence and household income should help keep the light vehicle selling rate in the 14 million range and drive seasonally higher truck sales as we move toward fall," said Kurt McNeil, head of GM's US sales operations.

Ford said it still expected total industry sales to come in at 14.5 to 15 million vehicles this year but cautioned that given the recent slowdown, it will likely be close to the bottom of that range.

"We think the retail market is still holding up relatively well," Ford sales analyst Erich Merkle said in a conference call.

Though economic uncertainty could dampen consumer confidence, auto sales are expected to continue to drive growth, said Lacey Plache, an economist with automotive site Edmunds.com.

"The bottom line is that pent-up demand for autos is still strong and can be expected to continue to contribute sales, given the aging fleet and the current expansion of credit," Plache said.

July's results were somewhat skewed because they were being compared to a period last year when Toyota and Honda saw their inventories shattered by supply shortages in the wake of the devastating Japanese quake and tsunami.

Other automakers also had supply shortages, but many were able to expand market share as consumers sought alternatives to vehicles with long wait lists.

Toyota's sales jumped 26 percent to 164,898 vehicles, while Honda posted a 45 percent gain from a year earlier to 116,944 vehicles.

"As our sales momentum continues to build through the summer, Honda is experiencing its best year-to-date sales in four years," said John Mendel, head of sales for American Honda.

"With success growing along with inventory, it's wonderful to once again be able to meet the strong retail customer demand for our great Honda products."

Nissan, which was not as severely impacted by the parts shortages last year, saw July sales rise 16 percent to 98,341 vehicles.

Chrysler celebrated that it has now reported sales gains for 28 straight months, as July sales rose 13 percent to 126,089 vehicles.

"July was another solid month for Chrysler Group as we again demonstrated our disciplined and methodical approach to growing sales and profits," said Reid Bigland, head of US sales.

Ford sales fell four percent to 173,966 as low-margin fleet sales dropped 16 percent. More profitable retail sales rose two percent in July.

GM saw sales fall six percent to 201,237 vehicles as retail sales slipped three percent and fleet sales dropped 15 percent due to planned reductions in low-margin sales to rental companies.

Volkswagen, which is aggressively expanding in the United States, posted a 27 percent jump in sales to 37,014 vehicles. It was the German automaker's best July since 1973.

"We're pleased to see consumers embracing our strong lineup of award-winning, fuel-efficient, high-quality vehicles and we expect our growth to continue," said Jonathan Browning, chief of Volkswagen Group of America.

.


Related Links
Car Technology at SpaceMart.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








CAR TECH
Honda quarterly profit jumps fourfold to $1.7 bn
Tokyo (AFP) July 31, 2012
Honda Motor said Tuesday its net profit surged more than fourfold to $1.7 billion for the three months to June, underscoring a recovery from the impact of last year's quake-tsunami disasters. The Japanese automaker posted a net profit of 131.7 billion yen ($1.7 billion) for the April-June quarter, up from 31.8 billion yen for the same period last year. Sales soared 42.1 percent to 2.44 t ... read more


CAR TECH
US flags still on the moon, except one: NASA

Another Small Step for Mankind

Russia starts building Moon spaceship, eyes Lunar base

Plans to revisit Moon impeded by financial difficulties

CAR TECH
Successes and failures in past Mars attempts

Strange but True: Curiosity's Sky Crane

NASA braces for 'terror' in Mars landing

Driving on Mars, There's an App for That

CAR TECH
Science fiction comes to life in Italian lab

XCOR Releases Payload Users Guide for Lynx Suborbital Vehicle

NASA Offers Condolences on the Passing of Pioneering Astronaut Sally Ride

Sally Ride, first US woman in space dead at 61

CAR TECH
China's Long March-5 carrier rocket engine undergoes testing

China to land first moon probe next year

China launches Third satellite in its global data relay network

Looking Forward to Shenzhou 10

CAR TECH
A Fish Friendly Facility for the ISS

Russian cargo ship manages to dock at ISS on second try

Another Progress Freighter Re-Docking Attempt Set for July 29

Japanese cargo craft docks with ISS

CAR TECH
The go-ahead is given for Arianespace's August 2 flight with Ariane 5

Initial assembly is completed for Arianespace's fifth Ariane 5 to be launched in 2012

Checkout begins with the Fregat upper stage for Arianespace's third Soyuz mission from French Guiana

ESA studies future of Europe's launch services

CAR TECH
RIT Leads Development of Next-generation Infrared Detectors

UCF Discovers Exoplanet Neighbor

Can Astronomers Detect Exoplanet Oceans

The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Dust

CAR TECH
Apple, Samsung lawyers spar in court over patents

The Daily iPad news app cuts staff

Microsoft confirms Surface tablet release

Quantifying the Environmental Impact of Structural Materials with B-PATH




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement