If you're one of those people who keeps track of such things — that would be all of y'all who play the drinking game — July could be a watershed month in the history of meaningless auto industry statistics. With the June sales numbers in it looks as though the domestic automakers barely managed to hold on to a greater-than-half share of the market for new vehicles here in the United States — by our count only 50.2%. And Automotive News tells us this morning if the Big-Three-in-name-alone see a slide in July sales similar to what they saw in June (GM down 24%, Ford down 11.5% and Chrysler down 5%), they'll officially be the also-rans. AN thinks the domestics may be able to blunt the sales decline this month with some serious incentive spending. But...
...with a tide of consumers moving away from the 'mericans, Toyota, Honda and Nissan are falling all over themselves to snatch up those conquest sales using the same tools as the automakers draped in the red, white and blue — by hiking up incentives on even their best-selling models. That's right, according to Edmunds, even the new Toyota Tundra's got over $5,000 on the hood — matching the same numbers the General's got on the new Silverado. So, if the domestics want to keep playing the incentive game, wethinks maybe they'll need a bit more money in the bank. Or pundits could just realize that in the overall scheme of things the horserace is pretty much meaningless and the bottom line automaker P&L numbers are a priori — but where would the fun be in that?
Over 50: Imports' coup is near (sub. req.) [Automotive News]
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