GM says U.S. Auto Sales Fall Below China for the First Time

(MoneyWatch)  For the first time ever, auto sales in the slumping U.S. market fell below China in January, according to General Motors.

"For the first time in history, China passed the U.S.," said Mike DiGiovanni, GM executive director of global and market industry analysis.

U.S. auto sales in January were only 656,976, according to AutoData Corp. That corresponds to a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of about 9.6 million cars and trucks, AutoData said. The SAAR is an estimate of how many cars and trucks would be sold in a year at the present monthly rate, taking seasonal sales patterns into account.

"This is obviously a difficult industry," DiGiovanni said in a conference call today.

Monthly sales in China were around 795,000, at a SAAR of around 10.7 million, according to GM. It's not that China is booming as the U.S. market contracts, although that was the case for a while in the first half of 2008. Today, the economic recession has spread nearly worldwide. Even in developing markets like China, Russia and India, auto sales in late 2008 stopped growing so fast, or even retreated.

DiGiovanni's point about China was to illustrate how much U.S. auto sales have fallen. GM's estimate for the U.S. SAAR in January was the lowest since 1963, he said.

GM's January sales fell 49 percent from the year ago month, to only 128,198. Ford dropped 40.3 percent to 93,041. Chrysler sales fell 55 percent, to 62,157.

U.S. sales also fell sharply for the biggest Japanese brands, although not as much as the Detroit Big 3. U.S. sales for Toyota, including Lexus and Scion, fell 32 percent to 117,287. Honda, including Acura, dropped 29 percent to 71,031. Nissan, including Infiniti, fell 30 percent to 53,884.

Executives for GM and Ford said that a big decline in fleet sales contributed to the fall-off in January. Also, nearly every manufacturer has cut first-quarter production schedules, to keep from piling up unsold inventory on dealer lots.

"The biggest reason for the decline in the sales rate was in the fleet market," said George Pipas, U.S. sales analysis manager for Ford.

Source for SAAR Chart: AutoData Corp.