Automakers expect smaller slump

DETROIT — The fragile recovery in new-car sales stalled in August as consumers deserted showrooms that a year ago were flush with buyers drawn by the government’s Cash for Clunkers program.

Auto manufacturers said Wednesday that their sales fell an average 21 percent during the month compared with a year earlier when the “clunkers” program was in full swing. The downturn hit both foreign and domestic carmakers — though some European luxury brands reported sizable increases.

Analysts had been expecting an industrywide drop in sales from the previous August, but not such a big one. Also worrisome was a 5 percent month-to-month decrease in sales from July.

The slowdown reflects a broader retreat by consumers from making major purchases in an uncertain economic environment, economists and industry executives said.

“Consumers are being very cautious about where they spend their money,” said Emily Kolinski Morris, senior economist with the Ford Motor Co.

The auto industry had been gradually rebuilding sales volumes this year after a dismal performance in 2009, when overall sales fell to their lowest point in nearly 30 years. Even with the bad August results, carmakers are on pace to sell about 11.5 million vehicles for the year, a healthy increase over the 10.4 million sold in 2009. But that is short of the annual average of 16 million a few years ago.

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