The verdict in clear and the return are now in, the year 2009 was a lousy year for the auto industry. The last month looked pretty good for a few companies and there is a slight indicating that we could see the long-awaited hope for recovery. Compared to December 2008, the overall U.S. car and light truck sales in December 2009 were up 15.1%, according to industry watcher Autodata. For some, that was a step in the right direction. December’s trends follow the emerging pattern as 2009 was a year of epic change in the U.S. auto landscape. While the “New Big Three” of Ford, Toyota, and Honda saw big gains over December 2008 –General Motors and Chrysler saw declines. One of the greatest business stories of 2009 was the revival of Ford, and sales declines for the “Government Two” are no surprise. A company in transition is GM as its market shares hold steady and remains the U.S. market leader if you count the fleet sales, but just barely. On the other hand, Chrysler is in very deep trouble. As their December numbers were not no awful, their overall sales of 2009 were the lowest since 1962 which translates at 55% since 2007. Under new ownership, second time in three years, Chrysler has little in the product pipeline currently.
