The nation's vehicle manufacturers will report January vehicle sales Feb. 1, and appear to have again defied predictions they would suffer a major drop in sales in the wake of the expiration of zero percent financing deals, according to a Detroit News story by Joe Miller and Susan Carney.
Although sales are likely to be down slightly from January 2001, car dealers around the country say vehicle sales held up better than expected in January despite fears that lucrative financing offers and rebates in the last three months of 2001 had exhausted consumer demand.
The dealers -- by nature an optimistic lot -- believe a car and truck sales surge at the beginning of the month, unseasonably warm weather and another round of aggressive incentives by manufacturers will result in a stronger-than-expected showing by the auto industry, according to the News.
Not every dealer may be in the same boat. Some Wall Street analysts are predicting sizable declines in sales, particularly for General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group. The most pessimistic analysts are predicting that GM and Ford sales could fall as much as 10 percent for the month and Chrysler sales could slide 15 percent or even more.
Meanwhile, most of the foreign manufacturers are again expected to report sales increases, according to the News.
