US car market: alarming turnover during January

Initial new year's figures are now available for the North American car market and the turnover figures are dreadful, being not just red, but dark red! Current statistics compare the month of January with that of last year. You can be sure this is a critical hit parade that nobody wants to head up. 'Top of the pops' (or rather flops) is the Chrysler LLC group who are writing a minus of 68.9%, followed by General Motors with a drop in turnover of 48.8%. Business was also way down in the dumps for the Ford Motor Company who lost 40.2% in turnover. Even Toyota, Nissan and Honda lost many customers, writing respective minus figures of 31.7%, 29.7% and 27.9%. BMW are almost entitled to celebrate with their a drop of just 15.5%, which you could almost call respectable.

The total picture does not look any different with other marques. Vehicles bearing the Chrysler emblem dropped by 68.9%, followed by Volvo, Pontiac und Hummer, who were also down by over 60%. Yet there were still winners who managed to increase their turnover. For example, Hyundai was up by 14.3%, Subaru by 8% and even Kia were up by 3.5% against last year's figures. The route that the American automobile industry is following is more than dubious and there is no end in sight yet for this downhill plunge.