DETROIT (AP) — U.S. auto sales sputtered back to life in 2010
and car companies expect them to keep climbing this year as the economy
recovers and buyers grow more confident.
With sales of around 11.5
million new cars and trucks, 2010 was still the second-worst year in
almost three decades, after 2009. And car companies are starting to
wonder if they will ever reach the heights they saw in the early 2000s,
when credit was cheap, incentives were rampant and sales topped 17
million.
Still, 2010 was a good year for Detroit’s car companies.
Ford Motor Co. sales rose 15 percent and it grabbed market share from
rivals for the second year in a row. General Motors Co.’s sales rose 6.3
percent while Chrysler climbed 17 percent, an impressive rebound from
2009 when the two companies restructured in bankruptcy court.
Other winners included South Korea’s Hyundai, which notched record sales.
Toyota
Motor Corp. continued to struggle. Its sales were flat in 2010, a
casualty of the company’s tarnished safety record. Toyota has recalled
more than 10 million vehicles since late 2009 for various issues,
including sticky gas pedals.
GM expects sales in the 13-million
range in 2011, which would be back up to the level the U.S. saw in 2008.
Eventually, sales will creep back up to 15 or 16 million, but not much
higher, said Don Johnson, vice president of GM U.S. sales.
Car
companies have downsized and they’re producing fewer vehicles, so they
don’t have to resort to costly incentives in order to clear out
inventory.
Big incentives — like the employee pricing for everyone
program in the summer of 2005 — were one reason buyers flocked to
dealerships.
Also, buyers have been spooked by falling home prices
and stubbornly high unemployment. But the economy is improving, and car
companies are more confident about 2011.
GM sold 2.2 million
vehicles in 2010, nearly 131,000 more than the prior year, even though
it got rid of four brands to focus on Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and
GMC.
The company’s December sales rose 7.5 percent because of hot
sellers such as the Chevrolet Equinox, a smaller SUV that seats five
people. Equinox sales rose 80 percent.
Ford’s sales rose thanks to
strong demand for its pickups, as construction companies and other
small businesses began buying trucks again. The F-150 pickup was the
best-selling vehicle in the U.S. last year.
Ford sold 1.9 million
cars and trucks and stole customers from rivals including GM and Toyota.
Ford said 2010 was the second year in a row it gained U.S. market
share, its first back-to-back increase since 1993. December sales rose 3
percent, though, in part because of a 40-percent reduction in
low-profit sales to rental-car companies.
Chrysler Group LLC sold
1.1 million vehicles in 2010. Much of the increase early in the year
came from sales to rental-car companies, but new vehicles fueled growth
later. Sales of the new Jeep Grand Cherokee were three times higher in
December than they were in the same month a year earlier. December sales
for all of Chrysler’s brands rose 16 percent.
All auto companies reported December and full-year results Tuesday. Other companies reporting were:
— Hyundai Motor Co., which said its sales rose 24 percent for the year to 538,000 vehicles, a record for
the company.
— Nissan Motor Co., which reported a 17 percent sales jump for the year to nearly 815,000 cars and
trucks.