May Sales

Thanks for sharing Jim. I'm actually amazed that Ferrari sold as many as they did but compared to last year it's pretty dismal.

 

Ouch. May to May totals for entire US market down 50%. We have Inc. owned SUV's. Just got a GM flyer of stimulas package for small business. Accelerated depreciation up to $K 1st year. Let me go calculate this.

 

I notice that quite a few companies are not reporting data anymore.....why is this? Has Chrysler stopped ALL sales? I highly doubt it, I'll wager the fire-sale of the century is taking place at every axed dealership in the US right now, with GM not far behind.

 

Wasn't there a recent report stating that Ferrari sales were holding steady, despite the carnage around them?

I wonder if that was due to embellished numbers or perhaps limited to a specific area that made the picture prettier than it really was?

I'm surprised the US car makers sales seem to be less affected than the imports... although at this point, it could be that they were already suffering sluggish sales 1 year ago, whereas the imports held sales higher for longer, making the %'s look worse on a Y vs Y basis.

 

Did that report cover Ferrari sales in the USA or was it Ferrari sales worldwide....?

 

Canadian stats are here.......

http://www.desrosiers.ca/Monthly%20Updates/sales.pdf

 

Add the tanking US dollar(1.43 right now) to that and it's a double whammy.

 

Given how sales figures can be finessed wouldn't registration figures be a more accurate indicator?

 

WTF caused this? we lost at least 5 cents in the past week.
Did someone start a war and not tell me?

 

I remember reading a quote last year from lambo CEO Winkelman that they aren't making any adjustments to their marketing, pricing, or production in light of the downturn in the economy.

I wonder if he is re-thinking his strategy. Or lack of one. -68% tends to get your attention, if not keep you awake at night.

 

Could the lower Lambo numbers be because buyers are waiting for the LP560-4 Spyder?

 

Certainly could be a factor but generally buyers of Exotics don't like to wait.

 

The motorcycle industry uses registrations-- I wonder why the automobile industry doesn't?

I'm guessing it has something to do with dealer relationships.

 

In that some Lambo dealers are closing I don't think that's the reason.

 

My friendly neighborhood Lambo dealer says they won't have any 560-4 Spyders until 2010, and the Ape is right, people won't want to wait that long. I know this dealer has sold at least five new Lambos in the last six months and plenty more used ones, so buyers are out there. The same dealer says, if I understood them correctly, that there's no such thing as a 2009 G-Spyder--they just aren't building any. Neither will they be getting any more LP640s this model year. Either Winkelmann was exaggerating, or the dealers put their foot down about having cars crammed down their throats with no hope of selling them.

Hopefully the LP670 will find some love, but not so fast that I don't have a chance for photos in the showroom.

 

my friendly local Lambo dealer has five LP560 coupes on the showroom floor, so it looks like the inventory problem dealers had with the Gallardo continues.

my other observation is how unchanged dealer practices are in such a crap market...you think they'd treat potential customers a little better, given how few there are now. (I'm in the market but not for an F or L car)

 

Traditionally, auto manufacturers have used "sales", which means to dealers, because anti-trust laws prohibit selling directly to the consumer. Dealers purchase the cars from the manufacturers much like we purchase cars from the dealers.

As I'm sure Napolis will tell you about gauging the financial health of the companies, the "sales" figure is simply one criteria at which analysts look. It needs to be combined with other reports, such as "days of inventory", not to mention real financial filings.

There are no 100-percent accurate ways of measuring actual "new car sales to consumers". There are many problems with using registrations as the basis. The first (and largest) is the timely acquisition of the data. One would need to have reports from all dealers...and as we have been reminded -- there are an insane number of automotive dealers just in the US!

Additionally, a small percentage of cars don't actually get "registered", per se. For instance, dealers can run cars without registering them, provided (in most states) that the car runs a dealer plate and is covered by a valid dealer insurance policy. Again, when you consider the number of dealerships across the country, it equates to a small percentage, but still a large total number of cars being run by dealer owners/managers.

As for the specific statistics from different companies, Ferrari is still doing alright. It makes sense that after a period of large annual growth in production, sales and registration, as well as low inventory, it could see a retraction in growth. The exotic market is rather small, and it was very well saturated with great products over the last decade.

Lamborghini is an interesting case study. Its issue is more about timing, because the company's products are mature and therefore are simply being nursed until all-new products arrive in the near future. One might say that this puts them in a bad situation, because the company's products don't compete as well as possible in a now much smaller segment. On the other hand, if the company has enough cash (or corporate parent support) to survive a period of poor sales, it would be better to launch the new cars during a period of large growth, rather than have those great products debut in time when nobody is buying (or thinking about buying) exotics.

 

I was looking at Lambos a few weeks ago. New 2008 G-SL (1000 miles but never sold) sticker 260k. Market value now is probably closer to $160k. When you can already find an LP560 for under 200, how is a dealer expected to move last year's model for anything close to what they have in the car (rumored to be $230k)?

The used market is really killing the new market. I just bought the wife a CLK 55 AMG convertible for under 20k. At first we were thinking about a Mini. OK, so the Merc is used... but it's not even in the same league. Why would I even consider a new car when there is soooo much on the used market?

 

Mine has a white 560 demonstrator, a green 560, a gray SL demo, and an orange LP640, and somebody might be interested in the white 560, so they may be judging their inventory needs pretty accurately.

HUH?

whachutalkinboutWillis?

Not in my world. Even though the L dealer, and the F/M/AM/P dealer, know full well I'm poorer than a French deodorant salesman and my current ride is worth maybe half its loan value, they always welcome me in, let me take pictures, listen to my ridiculous stories, etc., and sometimes even show me the back room with some more inventory. They know that some squirrels eventually find a nut, and will remember who copped what attitude. They might even know that politeness is just the right thing to do. If you have a bad trip at an exotic dealer, remember there are plenty more somewhere else, maybe with free shipping.

 

But Rolls Royce is UP! The economy is turning!!!

 

not talking about exotic dealers....but I've been to/spoken with a number of other dealers in the past few weeks and they still act like I'm supposed to write them a check for full retail. No willingness to negotiate, no customer service, normal "we gotta deal now this car won't be here tomorrow" stuff.

I went into a BMW dealer a few days ago, salesman to customer ratio of 3:1, their lot and an empty lot next to theirs jam packed w/ new cars, and they didn't seem too interested in taking care of anyone there. similar experiences elsewhere.

btw I like the Different Strokes reference