DETROIT — U.S. auto sales fell sharply in September, enduring a tough hangover from summer’s Cash for Clunkers buying spree.
General Motors and Chrysler posted the biggest slowdowns during the month, while Hyundai was the sole winner among big carmakers, reporting a 27 percent rise in sales from a year earlier.
“It was a more difficult month than we anticipated,” Mark LaNeve, GM’s vice president of U.S. sales, told reporters during a conference call.
The September slump for automakers followed a heady summer. They got a big lift in July and August from Clunkers, which spurred sales of nearly 700,000 new vehicles. The government program’s big discounts lured many customers who otherwise would have waited.
Now, automakers are starting to feel the effect. GM’s sales plunged 45 percent to 155,679 vehicles in September, compared with a year earlier. Chrysler sold 62,197 vehicles last month, down 42 percent.
Even higher incentives didn’t shake buyers from their fall slumber. Automakers spent an average of $2,557 per vehicle in the U.S., up $83 from August, according to the auto website . But that was due largely to big increases from domestic automakers.
“After five straight months of decline, incentives are on the rise again,” Edmunds analyst Jessica Caldwell said in a statement. “Now that Cash for Clunkers is over, automakers have to give consumers an incentive to buy — out of their own pockets, not the taxpayers’.”
European and Japanese manufacturers cut their spending on incentives, which include such offerings as financing deals and rebates that induce consumers to buy.
Japan’s Toyota said sales fell 13 percent while Nissan said its sales fell 7 percent. Honda’s sales fell 23.3 percent.
Ford had the smallest decline among major manufacturers, falling 5.1 percent to 114,241, but the decline followed two straight months of rising sales.
