U.S. auto sales tumbled 34 percent in April compared with the same month in 2008, the 18th consecutive monthly decline, as Chrysler LLC’s slide toward bankruptcy helped shrink the industry more than analysts estimated.
Chrysler’s U.S. deliveries fell 48 percent in joining Toyota Motor Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. with decreases that were worse than analysts expected.
General Motors Corp. and Honda Motor Co. sales dropped less than projections.
April ended with Chrysler’s Chapter 11 filing, the swine-flu outbreak and GM still racing to beat a June 1 deadline to restructure.
“The cloud of bankruptcy is still very much hanging there,” said Rebecca Lindland, an IHS Global Insight analyst in Lexington, Mass. “We can’t just see these little glimmers of hope in consumer confidence. We need to see an actual sustained recovery in the economy.”
April sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 9.3 million units, according to industry research firm Autodata Corp.
That missed the 9.9 million estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Lindland said she expects the rate to fall to 9 million in May and June.
Sales totaled 13.2 million in 2008 and averaged 16.8 million this decade through 2007.
