Today, Subaru of America released sales figures for January, 2003 (see http://vocuspr.vocus.com/vocuspr30/xsl/subaru/Profile.asp?Entity=PRAsset&EntityID=51270&XSL=PressRelease&Title=Releases). So now I add to the list of previous month's sales.

2002
Sep - 415
Oct - 881
Nov - 606
Dec - 566
2003
Jan - 642

Note that Subaru's press releases claim about 600 Subaru dealerships.

is always a tough month for automakers. Everyone is focused on buying Christmas presents, not cars. Even so, it's not a good sign...

Bob

There was a 7% decline in Baja sales over the previous month, but a 10% overall decline in total Subaru model sales from the previous month. ;)

Everyone in the US without $8K in credit card debt (less than 50% of households!!!) who could get a car at 0% finance, has already bought their new car. Times are going to get tough for all auto makers in the next couple of years. Dump that automaker stock unless they sell to China or India.

My last employer was THE #1 maker of drivetrain components in the world. We had two record years since the recession started (and two years of max bonuses). Why? 0% financing. Every car sold, regardless of price, meant profit for them.

Now the market is getting saturated, and everyone has a new car. It's deflation time. (and I'm now in non-cyclical consumer non-durables).

At least that's how I see it.

Bump to include January 2003 sales in the initial post.