Local sales of new autos fell 7% in the first quarter from a year earlier. Not a pleasant showing for Orange County dealers, considering the national market only was off 1%.
The slump isn’t expected to let up until maybe,and that’s a wee maybe,in the fourth quarter, according to the Costa Mesa-based Orange County Auto Dealers Associ-ation’s quarterly report. A real perk up isn’t seen until 2008.
This year, auto sales could come in 3.5% lower than in 2006, when they dropped 6%. Expect dealers to continue to woo buyers into dealerships by dangling automaker incentives, which averaged $3,643 in March, according to the report, prepared for the association by AutoCount, part of Experian Group Ltd.’s Costa Mesa arm.
Some brands are having a worse time than others. The domestics,Ford, GM and Chrysler,had a 25.6% market share in the first quarter, down 3.2%. Toyota dominated, as usual, with a 23.7% market share, down 1.4%.
Toyota’s new Yaris, which sells for about $12,000, made a splash. Registrations on newly bought Yaris models,a barometer of sales,topped all of the entry level brands at 404 registered in OC, grabbing 48% of the segment.
Next were Nissan’s Versa with 120 registrations, Honda Fit at 92, Toyota’s Scion xA at 90 and Hyundai Accent’s 75.
Toyota has four of the top 10 most popular models in OC. The top sellers here in the first quarter: Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Tacoma, Honda Civic, BMW 3-Series, Ford F-Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Toyota Sienna, Lexus RS.
While the sport utility vehicle market is shrinking, the compact SUV segment posted the biggest gain in market share through March. Compact SUVs are the smaller gas sippers such as Acura RDX, Kia Sportage and Honda CR-V.
Cheaper cars, such as the Yaris and Fit, had the second largest gain in the market. The category of autos that did the worse in the first quarter was full-size pickups, followed by big SUVs.
Of the domestic brands, only Saturn and Jeep saw increases in registrations from the six months through March. Mazda, Toyota’s Lexus and Subaru were tops in registration increases for Asian brands. BMW’s Mini Cooper, Mercedes-Benz and Audi were the most popular European brands.
In total number of registrations, Toyota/Scion led with 10,272, up 1.6%. Next was Honda with 4,822, down 7.3%; Ford, 3,204, down nearly 25%; Chevrolet, 2,893, down 7.5%; Mercedes-Benz, 2,875, up 0.8%; Lexus, 2,827, up 16%; and BMW, 2,336, up 5.3%.
Which leads us to the luxury race. Mercedes-Benz still is tops in OC. But Lexus only is 48 autos away from surpassing Mercedes.
Even so, Mercedes is projected to keep its lead for the year in registration, according to the association. BMW is seen at No. 3 after Lexus.
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Block at Orange: now Simon’s fifth mall here |
Bloomingdale’s
Bloomies has opened its three-level, 291,000-square-foot store at South Coast Plaza with much fanfare. “Girls night out,” meet the designer and other events are planned throughout the month. The store, considered Bloomingdale’s Southern California flagship, boasts more designers than its Fashion Island store and is set to have two restaurants, one more than Bloomies at Fashion Island.
Chef Charlie Palmer plans to open a restaurant at Bloomingdale’s in the fall. Another eatery is yet to be announced. The restaurants are set to have access from the outside as well. Bloomingdale’s runs its own restaurant at Fashion Island.
“Restaurant is an important piece of our business strategy,” said Tony Spring, Bloomingdale’s senior executive vice president and director of stores.
The store is expected to do $80 million to $90 million in annual sales, according to Women’s Wear Daily. Bloomingdale’s New York flagship on 59th Street generates about $575 million in sales, according to the trade magazine.
The Fashion Island store was renovated last year in anticipation of the new Bloomies. The South Coast Plaza store design has wider aisles and departments that are closer together, Spring said. The style of music is tailored to each floor.
Spring describes the Bloomingdale’s customer as a woman who is modern “of the moment,” with an appreciation of quality and style. As far as her age, Spring said that’s a “mindset.” The store caters to younger customers with handbags, shoes, accessories and jeans, he said.
Denim still is popular: “It just keeps reinventing itself,” he said.
Now black and white jeans are in demand, Spring said.
Block Change
The Block at Orange now is part of Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc. after the recent $1.6 billion acquisition by Simon and Farallon Capital Management LLC of the mall’s former owner, Mills Corp., based in Chevy Chase, Md. Mills owned 37 malls altogether.
In OC, Simon now owns the Shops at Mission Viejo, Brea Mall, Westminster Mall, Laguna Hills Mall and the Block.
The 730,000-square-foot Block is 96% full with sales of $467 per square foot, according to Moody’s Investors Service.
