Vehicle Sales

Braving temperatures below zero and streets covered with ice, thousands of car buffs and the curious challenged the weather last week to attend this year's International Auto Show at the Baltimore Convention Center.Some cooed as they sat in Mercedes-Benz's new C-Class sedan. Some marveled at the ruggedness of the Hummer. And some just comparison shopped.Promoter Raymond C. Nichols, president of International Auto Shows, conceded that the weather hurt attendance. Today from noon to 7 p.m. is the final day. "But," he said, "the people who are coming seem enthusiastic and eager to buy. I think dealers are going to have their best year in a long time."

New cars and light trucks sold at a blistering pace in Maryland last month, more than double the rise in national sales, according to figures released yesterday by the state Motor Vehicle Administration. "It's mind-boggling," Chuck Boyle, president of Boyle Buick Inc. in Abingdon, said of the 35.4 percent increase in vehicle sales last month over February's sales in 1999. Boyle is also chairman of the Maryland New Car and Truck Dealers Association, which represents the majority of Maryland's 350 new-car dealers.

DEARBORN, Mich. -- Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. car and truck sales fell 4.3 percent in July as lower car sales and a cutback in price discounts offset a modest increase in truck demand.The second-largest automaker said yesterday that truck sales were 5.2 percent higher than in the same period a year ago, at 214,235 vehicles, while car sales fell 17 percent to 128,948. Analysts had expected Ford's sales to be little changed.The results come in what is expected to be one of the year's slowest sales months, a result of the strikes at General Motors Corp.

Spurred on by record incentives, Maryland consumers bought more new cars during August than during any month since last October, according to figures released by the Motor Vehicle Administration. Dealers sold 38,965 new cars and light trucks during August, a gain of 4 percent over a strong August 2001. For dealers, it was their best August since 1991, when the MVA resumed releasing title registration figures, which equate with sales. Anirban Basu, director of applied economics at Towson University's RESI economic research institute, said that while new-car sales are still a leading economic indicator, they are being influenced by the auto manufacturer's zero-percent financing plans and lucrative rebates.

Maryland new car and truck dealers ended a three-month run of higher sales in August when vehicle deliveries dropped 10.3 percent below the corresponding period of the previous year, according to figures released yesterday by the Motor Vehicle Administration.The decline compared to a drop of 6.6 percent in vehicle sales for the entire U.S. industry, due primarily to the strike at General Motors Corp.Noting that auto sales in Maryland were strong in June and July, Peter Kitzmiller, president of the Maryland New Car and Truck Dealers Association, said that incentive programs offered by the manufacturers to boost sales in early summer took away some of the August business.

Upgrades to the MARC system will take longer. Projects to get highways ready for military base expansions will be pushed back. Improvements along U.S. 29 in Howard County will be delayed. These are among the $1.1 billion in hard choices Maryland officials announced yesterday as they cut back transportation spending plans over the next six years to account for drops in state revenues related to high gas prices and a slowing economy. "With gas up to $4 a gallon from $2 a gallon, everybody started driving less," said Gov. Martin O'Malley, saying revenues from gasoline taxes have fallen off as a result.

DETROIT - Chrysler LLC said yesterday that it would close all 30 of its factories for at least one month, starting at the end of this week, in response to plunging vehicle sales in the United States. The company said the plants, which employ 46,000 union workers, would resume production no sooner than Jan. 19. Some will remain closed for several more weeks. Normally, the Detroit automakers close their plants for about two weeks at the end of the year. In addition, Ford Motor Co. said yesterday evening that it would extend the holiday shutdown at 10 of its North American assembly plants to a third week.

Parris N. Glendening freed his firm grip on the steering wheel, rested his arm on the window opening of the $30,000-plus, silver Land Rover, flashed a broad grin and said: "What a thrill. This was the most fun I've had as governor."The governor had just completed his second lap around a third-of-a-mile, off-pavement demonstration course Land Rover has constructed in the East Point Metro Business Center in Prince George's County. The course familiarizes dealer prospects, potential financial partners, suppliers and customers with the ruggedness of the luxury sport utility vehicle the automaker imports and distributes throughout the country.

DETROIT -- Americans shied away from large sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks in April as gasoline prices approached $3 a gallon, and with a battery of new SUVs waiting in the wings, domestic automakers are now facing the very scenario they had hoped to avoid. Despite gains at Toyota and Honda, declines at General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler and Nissan pushed vehicle sales in the United States down 0.1 percent in April, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank. General Motors had the biggest drop, selling 7.3 percent fewer vehicles than it did in April 2005.

At Jerry's Chevrolet-Geo in Parkville, there are still traces of the blizzard of '96 that robbed that dealership and others in the state of a big chunk of their sales last month:-- a pile of snow that rises above the front bumpers of the four-wheel-drive Chevy Blazers facing Joppa Road."