American carmakers, including Ford, General Motors (GM), Fiat Chrysler, and Toyota Canada, reported a steep drop in sales in Q1 2020 due to the economic impact of COVID-19’s spread across the continent.
Ford Motor Company reported a double-digit sales decline for Q1 2020 compared to the first quarter of last year. The Dearborn, Michigan-based carmaker sold 516,330 units in Q1 2020, a 12.5pc decrease from 590,249 vehicles sold during Q1 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic is largely to blame for the sales decrease, the company said, adding that at the end of March it had 100 days of inventory.
GM’s sales declined by 7pc during the first quarter of this year to 618,335 units compared with Q1 2019. The company reported a strong start to the year, however, sales slid in March as the COVID-19 crisis snowballed and cities went into lockdown. The carmaker reportred 668,443 units in its inventory at the end of the quarter, down by 18pc compared to a year ago.
Toyota Canada, which also released its Q1 2020 results, sold 39,423 vehicles through the first three months of the year, an 18pc decrease from 48,065 units it sold in Q1 2019. In March 2020, the company’s sales declined by 48.8pc to 10,446 units sold from 20,401 units sold in March 2019.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles sold 446,768 units during the first quarter of 2020, down from 498,425 in Q1 2019.