Auto sales tough in December: Ford dealer

DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. auto sales have been flat in December from the depressed levels of the prior two months and uncertainty over the fate of the U.S. auto industry has weighed on consumer's minds, a top officer of Ford Motor Co's biggest dealership said on Friday.

"It's tough everywhere, pretty much October, November and now December are about on the same level," said Beau Boeckmann, Vice President of Galpin Motors Inc, which owns the biggest single dealership for Ford worldwide as well as Saturn and Honda dealerships.

"We are not seeing any increase really, but we are not seeing any dramatic downward forces from the past couple of months. It is pretty much on par," Boeckmann said.

Boeckmann is also president and chief designer for Galpin Motor Sports and a member of Ford's product committee.

The U.S. automaker bailout has been high on customers' minds due to the uncertainty and in the case of Saturn, the possibility that General Motors Corp could sell or close the brand has had an impact on sales, Boeckmann said.

"The Saturn business has dropped off the worst, that has been the hardest hit," he said.

"There is definitely that cloud hanging above Saturn especially since GM came out and said they were not sure what they were going to do with Saturn," he said. "That news definitely has spread and that has certainly not helped our Saturn business."

Galpin was one of the first Saturn dealers when the brand launched in the early 1990s. Boeckmann said he hoped dealers would be offered payouts if GM opts to drop the brand, similar to what happened when GM closed Oldsmobile.

"The business philosophy that Saturn set fit perfectly into our business philosophy ... and it is sad to see that on the verge of going away," he said.

"GM was supposed to get Saturnized and it was very disheartening for me to see the opposite happen, where GM really took over Saturn and made Saturn a GM brand and got rid of a lot of things that made Saturn unique and special."

GM created Saturn in an attempt to form a different kind of car company with an efficient manufacturing base at a new plant in Tennessee and a briefly popular 'no-haggle' sales policy at the dealership level.

But Saturn foundered after GM shunned new investment in the brand and shut down its separate management structure. The No.1 U.S. automaker now says the brand has been a financial failure.

FORD SET APART FROM GM, CHRYSLER

Boeckmann said he sees a bright future for Ford under Chief Executive Alan Mulally, who he sees as "a CEO who has the right vision at the right time" and the possibility it could take the top spot in U.S. sales, a position it hasn't held since the 1920s.

Ford currently No. 3 in light vehicle sales in the United States behind GM and Toyota Motor Corp, has seen U.S. sales fall 19.5 percent in 2008 through November. Sales were down 22 percent at GM and 13.4 percent at Toyota.

"I think they have the ability to be the market share leader, period," he said of Ford. "I think Toyota ought to watch out, that's how strongly I feel about Ford."

Boeckmann said he believes there is still a chance for automakers to get government support despite the Senate rejection of a proposed $14 billion loan program.

"The Senate has let us down and done a tremendous disservice to the American people," he said. "I think that is going to wake people up."

He added: "Bankruptcy equals death."

(Reporting by David Editing by Carol Bishopric)