Clunker Program Spurred August Sales

DETROIT — Auto sales perked up in August because of cash for clunkers, but both General Motors and Chrysler struggled after emerging from bankruptcy protection.

Total industry sales in the United States increased 1 percent during the month compared with August 2008, and rose 26 percent compared with July.
Much of the improvement was attributed to the government’s popular cash-for-clunkers program that gave consumers vouchers worth up to $4,500 if they traded in an older, gas-guzzling model.
But even as most automakers posted gains in August, sales at G.M. dropped 20 percent and Chrysler’s sales fell 15 percent.

Ford posted a 17 percent gain in sales in August, partly because its Focus compact car was one of the top-sellers in the clunker program.
Both G.M. and Chrysler have found it difficult to keep pace with the market after their trips through bankruptcy this year.

Analysts said their performance was not surprising, given that the companies were drastically reorganizing operations after receiving financial bailouts from the Obama administration.
“We’re still going through a phase of restructuring for both automakers,” said Jesse Toprak, vice president of the auto-pricing Web site TrueCar.com. “We really didn’t anticipate anything to happen in terms of their product lineup or their marketing efforts in this short a period of time.”
G.M. executives, however, stressed that it was beginning to rebuild sales and restock inventories after cutting back production this year."

Reference Original Article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/business/02auto.html?scp=5&sq=ford&st=Search