Domestic new-car sales in the Chicago area slipped 5.2 percent in August to 37,970 units from 40,055 a year earlier.
It was the first month this year in which sales didn`t top year-earlier levels.
”It was a combination of a lack of product and the fact a year ago in August the industry was offering fantastic incentives to clear out inventory to get ready for the new model year,” said Jerry Cizek, executive vice president of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, which represents more than 700 Chicago area new-car dealers.
Last year, the auto industry introduced 1.9 percent financing to rid itself of leftover `87 models before bringing out the `88s.
Also, said Cizek, ”Some people are waiting for the `89s because they know some significant new models are coming out,” referring to the restyled Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar, and the longer and redesigned Buick Riviera, Dodge Spirit and Plymouth Acclaim, which are replacements for the Chrysler K-cars, to name a few.
Sales have been so strong since January that some of the more popular models have been in short supply. Stocks have run low and in some cases the
`89 models haven`t arrived to replenish inventories, or if they were shipped, the factories haven`t released `89 prices to allow them to be sold.
”Our dealers had `89s in stock, but they hadn`t received official prices from the factory so they couldn`t sell them yet,” said Mack Ratchford, Chicago district sales manager for Ford Motor Co.
In August, only Chrysler Corp. dealers posted a slight gain as sales rose 2.7 percent, to 3,384 from 3,294 a year earlier. Dealers reported sales of the LeBaron convertible especially strong during a very warm August.
General Motors Corp. dealers sold 20,322 units, down 7.2 percent from 21,921 a year earlier. Ford dealrs sold 14,264 units, down 3.8 percent from 14,840.
For the first eight months of the calendar year, area dealers sold 323,711 new cars, up 11 percent from 291,613 a year earlier.
GM dealers sold 167,962 cars, up 5.1 percent from 159,808; Ford, 123,952 cars, up 23 percent from 100,616; and Chrysler, 31,797, up 1.9 percent from 31,189.
Ford continues to gain market share at the expense of GM. For the first eight months, Ford`s share of the Chicago area market reached 38.3 percent, up from 34.5 percent a year earlier. GM`s share slipped to 51.9 percent from 54.8 percent. Chrysler`s share fell to 9.8 percent from 10.7 percent.
