SUV sales hit trough in November

SUV sales hit trough in November

WASHINGTON - Soaring gas prices in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have hit the sales of cars in the United States with almost no demand for big sports utility vehicles (SUVs). The sales of all vehicles dipped by 2.8 percent in November as compared to the sales data at the same time last year, according to Autodata Corp.

Auto giants General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group have all reported falling sales. There was a 7.6 percent drop in sales at General Motors, while Ford faced a 15 percent dip in sales. DaimlerChrysler AG reported that US sales had fallen by 2.7 percent. Both GM and Ford have announced that they will hold back on truck production this year and speed up car units.

GM's sales and marketing analyst Paul Ballew sought to explain away the sales slump by saying, "We are coming off a sales spike in June and July ... and there is a hangover effect associated with that."

Toyota and Honda were however unaffected by this sales slump as they registered a 13 percent and 8 percent increase respectively. Hyundai led the pack with an increase of 12.5 percent. Bust sales at Nissan dipped by 4 percent in the same time.

But the main segment that was hit was undoubtedly the SUV one. Ford's Explorer once a darling of the country sold 52 percent less vehicles than what went at the same time last year. Ford sold only about 12,000 Explorers last month.

The company is looking to boost the manufacture of Ford Fusion and Lincoln Zephyr to make up for the loss in the SUV segment. GM's figures for the SUV segment are no different from Ford's as sales of Chevrolet Suburban and Cadillac Escalade fell by 46 percent and 48 percent, respectively as compared to the sales at the same time last year.

Analysts say that the automakers themselves are responsible for the slump in the SUV segment, but the companies seem to want to shift the blame on spiraling health costs and troublesome unions.