Source: http://www.autoline.tv/daily/?p=64476#more-64476 OCTOBER U.S. CAR SALES DROP Sales of new cars and trucks in the U.S. market slowed considerably in October. Wards reports that the SAAR fell to 16.5 million, down from 17.1 million the month before. Automakers sold 1.3 million new vehicles in October, down a sharp 5.4%. Yet, some automakers had a great month. Volvo shot up almost 16%, Audi was up 15%, Porsche rose nearly 9%, Hyundai was up over 7%, with Kia right behind it. But Tesla dropped a staggering 26%, Nissan was down over 9%, VW fell 7% and Toyota dropped nearly 5%. While General Motors does not report sales on a monthly basis any more, reports from the field suggest it took a heavy toll from the UAW strike, with a big falloff in sales. We’ll have to wait until the end of the fourth quarter to get official numbers. Historically, when GM loses market share during a strike, it never gets it back. Tesla has a historical pattern of ascending production over the three months of a quarter: 1st lowest; 2nd middle, and; 3d peak. My hypothesis is the 3d month is a maximum effort, benchmark to identify bottlenecks. Then the 1st month of the next quarter takes the lines down for maintenance and optimization. The 2nd month normalizes the changes and loads the parts needed for the maximum effort, 3d month. Sad to say, the Ward's report is behind a paywall so I don't have any insights to add. This might be something InSideEV might consider funding to add facts and data. Bob Wilson
