George Pipas
George Pipas
board cars coming data despite economic effect good incentives lower reason sold spring using
Probably the reason why '03 was lower than '02, and the reason that we don't think '04 will is necessarily going to be a blockbuster, is despite these good economic data coming in, we sold so many cars using incentives in '01 and '02, we didn't get the spring board effect you usually see,
beginning expected january sales
January sales were better than we expected at the beginning of the month. We expected them to be down 15 to 20 percent.
ahead easily inventory january month selling situation
January is easily the slowest selling month of the year. We don't want the inventory situation to get ahead of us.
adjustment subscribe works
We don't subscribe to that adjustment even when it works out in our favor.
goal good increase market share
Our goal is to increase market share in 2003. There's a long way to go...but this is a good start.
assumption base planning
Our base planning assumption was not predicated on unemployment going down,
buying cars feedback less people
Some of the feedback we got was there was less traffic, but people who were there were people there buying cars and trucks.
discount employee might month plans september tend
When the employee discount plans are removed there will be a lull. Things tend to even out. September might be an interesting month to look at.
account branded percent premium products today vehicle
Today premium branded products account for 11 percent of new vehicle sales. In '96 they accounted for 6 percent of the market.
advantage balance capacity demand honda production toyota whenever
Whenever production and demand are out of balance, you have incentives. Toyota and Honda have the advantage of a more clean-sheet approach, so they have capacity more in balance with demand.
buys car focus likely move pickup stay
The person who buys a Focus is more likely to stay with us to move into a mid-size car or SUV or pickup trucks,
affects consumers interest months rates sitting six wondering year
There is a lag factor. A year ago, even six months ago, we were sitting here wondering when consumers would sense that interest rates were going up. I don't think this significantly affects the first quarter.
areas coming good news optimistic
We're optimistic that we'll see more good news in these areas in coming months.
We're not where we want to be or where we need to be but we are improving.