NADA MEETING: Car Makers Report

SAN FRANCISCO February 4, 2003; John Porretto writing for the AP reported that General Motors Corp. said Sunday that its January sales are likely to be down fractionally from a year ago, a result that would be better than many analysts expect.

John Smith, GM's group vice president for sales, service and marketing, said strong sales in the month's final days lifted the tally, but declined to elaborate.

Automakers reported January light-vehicle sales for the United States on Monday.

Some analysts had expected GM, the world's largest automaker, to experience a sales decline of as much as 8 to 10 percent to start the year -- a sales "hangover" after a 36 percent, incentives led increase in December.

"We can live with the results we're going to report," Smith said, at an afternoon news conference at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention here.

Ford Motor Co. Chairman Bill Ford Jr. said Saturday at the convention that his company's sales figures will be slightly above year-ago results.

Earlier Sunday, GM executives told their dealers that the company will produce a second body style for its popular Hummer H2 in 2004 and revamp its minivan lineup the following year.

Hummer dealers are selling out their inventory with no discounts, rebates or special financing. The company sold 18,861 H2s in 2002, after launching the vehicle last summer.

Beginning in 2005, GM will add a minivan to its Saturn and Buick lineups for the first time and introduce new models of its existing Chevrolet and Pontiac minivans.

"Adding Buick will help us compete in the upper end of the market ... and Saturn will help us reach a lot of young families," said John Middlebrook, GM's corporate vice president for marketing and advertising.

Ford also said late last year that it plans to expand its minivan lineup. It will begin selling a new luxury Mercury minivan in the fall and also will redesign the Ford Windstar minivan for 2004.