Yesterday, most major auto manufacturers posted their February 2009 sales results and it comes as no surprise that sales are down, yet again. Last week, JD Power & Associates tallied some preliminary results and over the first 22 days of February, sales were down by 38%. Now that the month has finished, the overall decline for the month was a whopping 39.4%.

In January of 2009, overall sales were down 37.1%. The economy is shaky but more so, Americans’ confidence in the economy is likely contributing to the sales declines.

Domestic Automakers
General Motors posted a 53.1% decline in sales over February 2008 and a 51.1% year-to-date decline when compared to the same two-month period in 2008. Chrysler’s numbers were not as bad; the company had a 44% decline in sales for February 2009 and a 49.1% decline for January and February.

Ford Motor Company continues to be the most stable, financially, of the Detroit 3. However, the company posted some significant losses; 49.5% fewer vehicles were sold in February 2009 when compared to February 2008 and year-to-date sales are down by 45.9%

Imports
Subaru posted an increase in sales – February 2009 sales were up 1.4% over February 2008 and year-to-date; the company has seen an increase in sales of 4.5%. However, total Subaru sales for the month were only 13,089; the company doesn’t represent a large percentage of import sales.

Toyota sold the most cars in the imports category with 109,582 units sold in February 2009. Unfortunately, this is a decline of 39.8% over February 2008. Year-to-date, Toyota is down 35.9% over the same period in 2008.

Honda and Nissan posted similar declines. American Honda sales were down 38% for February 2009 and 33.3% for January and February 2009. Nissan sales were down 37.1% in February 2009 and 33.6% year to date.

An Interesting Trend
In Nissan North America’s sales figures, I noticed an interesting sales trend. Nissan’s flagship sports car, the Nissan Z, experienced an increase in sales of 33% when compared to the same period in 2008.

Overall, the sales dropped significantly, yet again. I wish I had a crystal ball that let me see when these numbers turn around, or at least drop out of the double-digit loss range.

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