U.S. auto sales hover near historic lows

DETROIT — Offers of huge rebates and tempting low-interest loans weren't enough to entice car buyers out of their bunkers in this economic crisis, causing U.S. auto sales in February to hover near historic lows.

General Motors' sales tumbled 53 percent from a year earlier, while Ford's U.S. sales fell 48 percent and Chrysler's dropped 44 percent. The major Japanese automakers fared only slightly better.

Overall auto sales were down 41 percent from February 2008, but up 5 percent from January, according to Autodata Corp. and Ward's AutoInfoBank. January marked the industry's worst monthly performance since December 1981.

The increase was a good sign, but it's far less than the usual 14 percent sales bump from January to February, and it doesn't necessarily mean sales have hit the bottom, said Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for the auto Web site Edmunds.com.

"It does mean that there's some life out there," Toprak said.

Things are so bad that GM, which marked its worst February sales since 1967, is considering a program to let buyers keep their cars for a time without making payments if they lose their jobs.

The huge stock market decline helped push down sales, said Mark LaNeve, GM's North American vice president of sales, services and marketing. The Dow Jones industrial average ended the month at its lowest level in nearly 12 years.

"People are seeing, tracking their investments going down 3, 4, 5 percent a day or a week," LaNeve said. "That doesn't put you in a mood to go out and splurge on a new vehicle."

Automakers sold 688,909 cars and trucks last month, and there's little they can do to spur sales until the economy recovers, Toprak said.

"You can spend money on marketing or incentives. That's all you can do," he said. "Neither is having a big impact on sales. That tells us it's really consumer confidence and the general negative state of the economy overall causing consumers to postpone making purchase decisions."

According to one figure closely watched by the industry, February's annualized sales rate was the lowest in more than 27 years, dropping to 9.1 million vehicles. That figure makes adjustments for seasonal sales fluctuations.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s sales fell 40 percent. The global auto sales leader was forced to seek aid from the Japanese government Tuesday for its finance arm.