BY THE NUMBERS* 557 – The number of car dealers lost in Tennessee in the past four years, dropping from 4,765 at the start of 2007 to 4,208 this year.* 172 – Number of registered car dealers in Hamilton County.* 10.4 million – Number of new cars sold in the United States in 2009, down 21 percent from the previous yearSource: Tennessee Motor Vehicle Commission, Edmunds.comU.S. sales2009 Top 101. Ford F-Series – 413,5252. Toyota Camry – 356,8243. Chevy Silverado – 316,5444. Toyota Corolla – 296,8745. Honda Accord – 290,0566. Honda Civic – 259,7227. Nissan Altima – 203,5688. Honda CR-V – 191,2149. Ford Fusion – 180,67110. Ram pickup – 177,2682008 Top 101. Ford F-Series – 515,5132. Chevy Silverado – 465,0653. Toyota Camry – 436,6174. Honda Accord – 372,7895. Toyota Corolla – 351,0076. Honda Civic – 339,2897. Nissan Altima – 269,6688. Chevy Impala – 265,8409. Dodge Ram – 245,84010. Honda CR-V – 197,279Source: Motor Trend1. Ford822 trucks481 cars2. General Motors644 trucks449 cars3. Honda652 cars410 trucks4. Toyota477 cars450 trucks5. Nissan546 cars348 trucksSource: Hamilton County vehicle registrations for new car and truck sales, excluding fleet sales, for all of 2009.
Chattanooga auto dealers are saying good-bye and good riddance to 2009 – their worst sales year for new vehicles in modern history.
But buoyed by year-over-year sales gains in Hamilton County during the final two months of the year, dealers say they are hopeful for better sales in 2010.
“This is the seventh recession I’ve gone through in this business, but this is by far been the worst,” said Chevrolet Dealer Herb Adcox, a General Motors dealer for the past 56 years. “There are some positive indications for 2010 and I think the market will get better. But until unemployment comes down, we’re not going to get back to the sales volumes we had a couple years ago.”
Nationwide, U.S. car sales slid into a recessionary ditch last year, falling 21 percent to the lowest sales volume since 1982.
As the nation’s jobless rate rose above 10 percent during the year, General Motors and Chrysler Corp. both entered and exited bankruptcy during the year, ending 2009 as smaller companies with fewer dealers. GM sales were off 30.1 percent last year while Chrysler sales were down 36 percent.
The drop in new vehicle sales in Hamilton County was even greater than the nationwide downturn, according to vehicle registrations by the Hamilton County Clerk’s Office.
“It was a brutal year with a capital “B,” said Tim Kelly, owner of Kelly Cadillac, SAAB, Sabaru and Hummer and chairman of the Chattanooga Auto Trades Association. “Even though I think Chattanooga’s economy and population growth is better off than the country as a whole, our sales dropped even more than the U.S. average, I guess, because this tends to be a conservative market. The good news is there is a tremendous pent-up demand for new vehicles and I think 2010 is definitely going to be a better year.”
The collapse of one of Chattanooga’s biggest dealers and the bankruptcy of two of Detroit’s Big Three auto makers last year helped push down sales of new cars and trucks in Hamilton County by nearly 40 percent.
In February, Joe Prebul’s Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Kia, Volvo, Infiniti, Pontiac, GMC and Piaggio dealerships shut down after Mr. Prebul was arrested Tuesday on fraud charges. He ultimately pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge in a loan dispute with his brother-in-law, but his dealerships were liquidated.
The sales total for 2009 in Hamilton County, excluding fleet sales, were only about a third of the all-time sales peak for new vehicles reached in Hamilton County in 1978.
With gasoline prices down because of the recession, truck sales grabbed a 49.2 percent share of new vehicle sales in Hamilton County last year. In 2008, 44.9 percent of new vehicle sales were trucks.
Ford Motor Co., the only major U.S. car maker not to receive government stock investments during 2009, took advantage of Chattanoogans’ truck-buying preference to stay on top of the overall vehicle market as the top selling brand in Hamilton County. Honda had the biggest share of the car market among the nearly dozen car manufacturers selling their brands in Chattanooga.
Clay Watson, president of Mountain View Ford and part of the Watson family of downtown dealerships for Ford, Nissan, Chevrolet and others, said 2009 “was a very tough year.” But he expects better sales in the new year.
With its Ford brand and newly opened Nissan facility, Mr. Watson said his company “had a successful year given the economic climate we were in.”
Todd Dyer, general manager for Marshal Mize Ford, said car sales reflect the economy. Amid the worst recession in decades, local car sales hit the brakes when the economy went into a skid.
“When the economy is down, the car industry is going to be down,” Mr. Dyer said. “I think those of us with Ford will be in good shape in 2010 because I’m confident in our product and this market.”
November and December sales in Hamilton County were above those in 2008, which dealers said reflects a turnaround in sales.
“Our new cars sales were up 26 percent in November and 31 percent in December over a year ago so I’m confident the worst is behind us and this should be a much better year,” said Corey Choate, general manager for Economy Honda, which had the most new cars sales in Hamilton County during 2009.
Nationwide, the venerable Ford F-Series pickup remained the top selling model, according to Autodata’s 2009 sales tallies.
Toyota Camry moved up a notch to second place, pushing Chevrolet Silverado to the third spot. Toyota Corolla beat out the Honda Accord for the fourth best selling vehicle in the United States for 2009.