2005 Vehicle Sales Outlook Remains Unchanged Despite Employee Discount Incentive Programs, According to CSM Worldwide

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., July 8 -- Although an employee discount sales incentive program resulted in strong General Motors sales for June 2005, and there has now been a subsequent response from Ford and DaimlerChrysler, the CSM Worldwide forecast for total 2005 sales remains unchanged at 16.95 million units.

"The latest wave of incentive programs will not have a significant effect on full-year sales. What we're seeing is essentially a shift in the timing of sales," said Joe Barker, manager, North American sales analysis at CSM Worldwide. "U.S. sales will remain strong in July based on the increased promotional activity, but will begin to moderate once the 2006 models arrive and incentive activity tapers."

At all three automakers, the employee discount incentive plans are designed to reduce inventories of 2005 models. DaimlerChrysler, for example, is limiting discounts to older vehicles or where vehicle-specific inventory has ballooned. At GM, June's incentive programs successfully drove above- average inventory levels down. GM's inventory decline from May to June of 163,000 units (source: Autodata) was focused primarily on vehicles with problematic inventory levels.

CSM Worldwide (http://www.csmauto.com/ ) supports more than 350 of the world's top automakers, suppliers and financial organizations with global market intelligence and forecasting services. With corporate offices in Detroit, CSM Worldwide covers the global automotive environment from London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Paris, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Shanghai, Bangalore and Budapest.