Notes From All Over -- The Midnight Edition -- Auto Sales -- January 6, 202

Auto sales were down, perhaps mostly due to supply constraints. 

4Q20:

• GM: 4.8% gain
• Ford: 9.8% decline
• Fiat Chrysler: 8% decline

Full year, 2020:

• GM: 11.8% decline
• Ford: 15.6% decline
• Fiat Chrysler: 17% decline

Note:

• Ford: cited the elimination of sedans from its lineup and tight supplies of its new F-150 caused by a combination of coronavirus-related factory closures and a transition to an updated model as contributing factors it its results.
• F-series: 44th consecutive year as the USA's best-selling truck but its 787,422 total was down 12.2% form 2019 and the lowest since 2014.
• but look at this -- the overall market was down 15 percent on the year and very mass-market automaker reported U.S. sales declined except for Tesla, which doesn't break out U.S. sales but realized a 36% increase in global deliveries;

Elsewhere:

Sales of new vehicles in the U.S. fell 14.6% last year, but a second-half rebound from a coronavirus-related plunge in the spring kindled optimism for a recovery later this year. 

Automakers on Tuesday [January 5, 2020] reported selling 14.57 million new vehicles for the year, a far cry from the five previous years with sales over 17 million. But the 2020 performance was better than most forecasters had expected when the pandemic forced auto factories and many dealerships to shut down in April and May. 

General Motors Chief Economist Elaine Buckberg said she expects sales to recover in the spring. With warmer weather and widening novel coronavirus vaccinations, life should return more toward normal, lifting the job market and auto demand, she said in a statement.

Chick-fil-A: will expand in Montana. Whoo-hoo. Second-ever location in Montana: Billings, MT.