International Automobile Dealers Announce Monthly Sales

In Tough Times, International Makes Gain Market Share

ALEXANDRIA, Va., February 4, 2009: The American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA) today released January 2009 sales figures for the international automobile industry. AIADA represents over 11,000 international franchises which so far this year account for 57.5 percent of all vehicles sold in the United States. Overall sales, unadjusted for business days, were down 37 percent from January 2008.

"Our focus now is on incentivizing consumers to buy cars again," said AIADA President Cody Lusk. "Congress has put forth a number of possible point-of-sale solutions. The quicker one or more of them is put into practice, the quicker we can expect to see an auto retail recovery." Congress last night included in its economic stimulus package Senator Barbara Mikulski's amendment that would provide a tax deduction based on the interest paid on loans and state sales and excise taxes for any new car purchase. On average, the bill would allow families to save $1,553 on a vehicle with a $25,000 sticker price.

According to numbers from Autodata Corp., international brands sold 377,445 vehicles in January, down slightly from 454,088 in December and 390,658 vehicles in November. Traditionally, January is a slow month for vehicle sales. Asian brands increased their share of the market to 49.5 percent, up from 41.7 percent in December, and Europeans had an eight percent share. Domestic brands finished the month with 42.5 percent of the market. While the news was grim for most carmakers, five international makes; Hyundai, Jaguar, Kia, Smart, and Subaru; all saw increases over January 2008.

January marked the 15th consecutive month of falling car sales. In response to total industry sales of 656,976, down from 1,044,654 in 2008, analysts dropped 2009's seasonally adjusted annual sales rate to 9.57 million. That is its lowest level since June 1982.