(Click on the chart for a larger version)
I created this chart to graphically illustrate the current auto sales percentages in September 2009 as opposed to last year at this time. It paints a picture that should come as a surprise to absolutely no one still remotely connected to reality.
The Korean upstarts continue to gain market share at the expense of the entrenched, mainstream old-guard, of which Toyota and Honda are firm members.
What do the numbers tell us?
1. That automobile buyers have dwindling loyalties and will easily switch makes or manufacturers to get a better product.
2. That in the diminished economy we live in, and may well for the next several years, "value" for the buck reigns supreme.
3. That Hyundai and Kia have mastered the art of delivering so much for so little. They are to Toyota and Honda today, what Toyota and Honda were to GM, Ford and Chrysler 30 years ago.
4. That bailouts and bankruptcy for GM and Chrysler did nothing to stem their downward slide into irrelevancy. Again, I must ask, "How much longer can GM and Chrysler go without another transfusion of cash from Uncle Sam?"
5. That Cash for Clunkers cannibalized September sales, and for what purpose? C4C might have simulated car retailers while it ran, but it did nothing more than rob from future sales.
7. The Great Recession hasn't begun to turn around in spite of the happy-face bullshit the politico's and media would have us believe.
