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COPYRIGHT 2005 The Dallas Morning News
Byline: Terry Box
Oct. 31--October's chill often settles on new-car sales.
But the auto business this October looks downright cold and may slip to new lows for the month, some analysts predict. That could hurt sales for the whole quarter.
U.S. sales of new cars and trucks are likely to be 9 percent lower than the same month a year ago, according to Edmunds.com.
In fact, Merrill Lynch expects the seasonally adjusted sales rate in October to be the lowest since August 1998.
"The payback from the incentive-driven summer sales was delivered in October," said Jesse Toprak, Edmunds.com's executive director of industry analysis.
Moreover, domestic automakers' share of the U.S. market will fall to 53 percent in October, a record low, Edmunds.com predicts.
The result could be a return of incentives that have been a boon for car shoppers but a beating for the Big Three's balance sheets.
Automakers will report their October results on Tuesday.
In the first nine days of October, sales...
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