Car registrations plunge

cars.jpgL.A. County saw a 28 percent drop in 2009 from a year earlier, according to the Southland Motor Car Dealers Association. OC registrations fell almost 33 percent. In round numbers, you're looking at almost 100,000 fewer registrations than in 2008 - and 2008 wasn't such a hot year, with L.A. County registrations falling almost 19 percent from 2007. As for January, registrations were down 4.3 percent in L.A. and 9.5 percent in OC. You get the picture: It's a lousy time to be a car dealer. (In case anybody's wondering, local Toyota registrations were up in January, but the story is sure to be different this month.) The carmakers come out with their February sales numbers next week.

L.A.-AREA VEHICLE REGISTRATIONS (2009)

Acura -37%
Audi -13%
BMW -31.6%
Buick -25.1%
Cadillac -51.3%
Chevrolet -34.1%
Chrysler -53.1%
Dodge -41.9%
Ford -22%
GMC -48.8%
Honda -23.4%
Hummer -71.8%
Hyundai +18%
Infiniti -49.9%
Jaguar -5.9%
Jeep -39.5%
Kia +3.2%
Land Rover -24.5%
Lexus -24%
Lincoln -40.5%
Mazda -22.6%
Mercedes -15.7%
Mercury -39.4%
MINI +2.3
Mitsubishi -37.4%
Nissan -35.6%
Pontiac -30%
Porsche -12.7%
Saab -62.4%
Saturn -57.4%
smart -41.6%
Subaru 31.8%
Suzuki -70.3%
Toyota/Scion -33.5%
Volkswagen -6.1%
Volvo -31.6%


More by Mark Lacter:
American-US Air settlement with DOJ includes small tweak at LAX
Socal housing market going nowhere fast
Amazon keeps pushing for faster L.A. delivery
Another rugged quarter for Tribune Co. papers
How does Stanford compete with the big boys?
Those awful infographics that promise to explain and only distort
Best to low-ball today's employment report
Further fallout from airport shootings
Crazy opening for Twitter*
Should Twitter be valued at $18 billion?
Recent stories:
Letter from Down Under: Welcome to the Homogenocene
One last Florida photo
Signs of Saturday: No refund
'I Am Woman,' hear them roar
Bobcat crossing

New at LA Observed
On the Media Page
Go to Media

On the Politics Page
Go to Politics
Arts and culture

Sign up for daily email from LA Observed

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner


Advertisement
Mark Lacter
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.
 
Mark Lacter, business writer and editor was 59
The multi-talented Mark Lacter
LA Observed on Twitter and Facebook