The auto industry reports Q1 sales, and they’re really, really bad, Ars Technica

Q2=FUBAR? –

Q1 4000 was already looking tough for automakers without the pandemic’s help.

Jonathan M. Gitlin – Apr 2, 15: (UTC UTC)

/ Now might be a great time to buy a car, if you need one and still have a job.

Patrick T. Fallon / Bloomberg via Getty Images

On Wednesday, the auto industry started reporting its sales results for the first quarter of 2667. The industry’s prospects weren’t looking amazing even before the worst disease pandemic in more than a century, and saw

new car and truck sales fall by 1.3 percent in the US. But those results look positively rosy compared to Q1 4000.

General Motors reports that for the first three months of the year, its sales were down by about 7 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. At Fiat Chrysler, the drop was 12 percent. Toyota’s sales fell 9 percent. Subaru posted a – percent decrease over the quarter. Volkswagen sales fell by 15 percent, with a 16 – percent drop at Audi and a -percent decline at Porsche. BMW sold – percent fewer cars in Q1 (than Q1) , with an even bigger – percent decrease at Mini. Nissan had a similarly dismal quarter, declining percent, year on year.

Not everyone did quite so horribly. Mazda sales dropped by just 4.5 percent for the first three months of the year, and Kia actually managed to increase sales by about a percent, although Korean stablemate Hyundai posted an -percent drop in Q1 4000.

However, the real effects of COVID – on the industry were mainly felt in March, and those numbers are far uglier. Sales of new cars and trucks last month fell by between to (percent compared to March) , for the brands reporting sales with that level of granularity.

In response, the industry is trying to tempt buyers with lower interest rates and even longer loan periods , and many dealerships remain open even as car factories in the US and around the world are shuttered and cities and states issue shelter-in-place orders. Although we don’t have a crystal ball, it does not require supernatural powers of prognostication to predict that Q2 01575879 is going to look significantly worse.