SANTA MONICA, Calif. — New-car buyers flocked to dealerships for Labor Day weekend sales but have largely stayed away since then, according to Edmunds.com.

“New-car sales for the three-day weekend jumped a remarkable 22 percent compared to average weekend sales in August, rather than the typical 12 percent rise,” said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Ray Zhou. “But as soon as the holiday weekend was over, car-shopping activity fell about 40 percent.”

The automotive industry is currently tracking at an 11.3 million seasonally adjusted annual rate for September, assuming slightly lower fleet sale volume than last month, said Edmunds.com analysts.

So far this month, BMW, Chrysler, Ford and Volkswagen retail sales are down between five and ten percent compared to the first two weeks of August, while Nissan is up about five percent and Toyota is up about nine percent. The rest of the automakers are relatively stable.

“Labor Day occurred unusually late this year. This took some sales that would normally have occurred in late August in the run up to the Labor Day weekend and pushed them fully into September,” wrote Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl in his blog, “Just to Clarify.”

“There are no more holiday weekends in September and few throughout the rest of the year, so automakers may want to think about some creative ways to stimulate sales. Momentum seems to be lacking whenever the calendar does not reflect a traditional sales period,” commented Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell.

FRANKFURT – BMW AG expects strong unit sales in the third quarter to drive results, with an expected seasonal slowdown having less of an impact than forecast, reported Reuters.

“Our car sales volume is set to rise by some 10 percent to more than 1.4 million units for the full year,” Chief Financial Officer Friedrich Eichiner said in the text of a speech to investors on Thursday.

“We also forecast a full-year EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) margin of more than 5 percent for the Automobiles segment,” he added.

The group’s aim is to become the strongest premium brand in China “especially with respect to brand awareness and customer satisfaction,” he said.

Currently, the BMW Group is the number two premium manufacturer in the Chinese market, with a market share of 22 percent, Eichiner said.

Last month’s weak auto sales crushed hopes for a rebound in demand this year. Auto executives and analysts increasingly see 2010 sales coming in at the low end of their forecasts ranging between 11.5 million and 12 million light vehicles. That would be only about a million vehicles above last year’s disastrously low 10.4 million, reported The Detroit News.

But financial analysts sifting through the monthly sales data have spotted trends that may indicate that while the recovery may take longer than anticipated, it’s still under way.

Truck sales are rising, signaling higher investment outlays by contractors and other businesses that rely on trucks. Fleet demand has strengthened, in another good economic sign. And consumers are saving more — which suggests they’re feeling skittish now, but when their confidence does improve, they’ll be in a stronger financial position to buy a vehicle.

Because of the barrage of mixed and discouraging economic data coming out, consumers aren’t likely to recover their confidence quickly. “We still see no signs of recovery in demand and therefore think sales are likely to stay in the 11 million to 12 million range for the time being,” said J.P. Morgan analyst Kohei Takahashi.

So far this year, the annualized sales rate is tracking at 11.3 million vehicles. August’s selling pace of 11.47 million cars and light trucks was expected to be lower than last August’s artificially inflated 14.17 million pace. But it also slipped behind June’s 11.54 million selling pace.

But key segments are starting to show strength. J. P. Morgan analyst Himanshu Patel notes that pickup sales accounted for 12.2 percent of total light vehicle sales in August, similar to July and up from 11.6 percent in June and 11.1 percent in May. “Automakers mentioned that strength in pickup truck sales was a result of the comeback of small commercial buyers,” he wrote in a report.

James Bell, an analyst at Kelley Blue Book, says some car shoppers may have held off in August to see what kind of deals would be on offer during the Labor Day weekend. Bell noted that one reason demand is recovering so slowly is Detroit’s restructured automakers are under less financial pressure to sell cars at any cost.

“Manufacturers seem to have learned hard lessons from the past and are holding production levels in line with real and honest demand,” Bell said. “If consumers are waiting for a ‘fire sale’, then chances are they will be kept in anticipation for a very long time. We see that incentives are up, year-over-year, but not at the insane levels I think some consumers are looking for.”

According to research site Edmunds.com, August incentives averaged $2,681 per vehicle, down from $2,765 in July and only slightly higher than last August’s $2,456 — when the government also was offering incentives to encourage customers to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Surprisingly, Detroit’s automakers have been profitable through this tough year because they slashed costs during their restructurings and bankruptcies. But the industry still needs to see a recovery in sales from current levels.

Itay Michaeli of Citi Investment Research & Analysis says automakers should seek creative solutions to stoke demand. He cited Hyundai Motor Co.’s Assurance program introduced in January 2009 that allowed customers to return a car during the first year of ownership.

W.P. Browne Consulting estimates sales this year will total 11.3 million light vehicles. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services trimmed its annual sales forecast to 11.4 million light vehicles this year, rising next year to 13.3 million.

“We have lowered the 2010 forecast slightly this year because prospects for a more robust economic recovery have waned,” S&P said in a statement. “Even the 2011 sales forecast is only about equivalent to our estimate of replacement-level sales.”

Americans nervous about the drumbeat of bad economic news stayed away from auto showrooms. Automakers nervous about their bottom lines didn’t offer deals to lure them in.

As a result, it was the worst August for U.S. auto sales since 1983, when the country was at the end of a double-dip recession. General Motors, Toyota, Honda and Ford all reported declines from the month before and from a year earlier, reported The Associated Press.

The bleak results were a reminder that, for all the good news about the turnaround of the Detroit automakers, the market for cars and trucks in the United States remains frail. Initial data showed sales came in at about 997,000, down 5 percent from July, according to AutoData Corp.

“Coming in below a million units is eye-opening for August,” said Paul Ballew, a former chief economist for GM. “I never thought I’d see that. That’s a tepid month for August, which is supposed to be one of the top months of the year.”

Auto sales are better this year than in 2009 but much weaker than they were before the recession. In response, Ford on Wednesday cut its fourth-quarter production plans by 4,000 vehicles.

Last August, the government’s Cash for Clunkers program offered rebates of up to $4,500 for trade-ins and helped sales, especially for fuel-efficient cars. There is no such incentive now.

In addition, automakers were stingy about deals. After years of painful restructuring, car companies have cut production, and they no longer need to offer big discounts to move cars off lots.

Automakers kicked in an average of $2,858 in incentives per vehicle last month, down $177 from the month before, according to J.D. Power and Associates. It was the fifth month of lowered or flat incentive spending.

“We know it’s going to be a modest recovery. It’s going to be bumpy,” said Don Johnson, GM’s vice president of U.S. sales. “What we don’t want to do is get back to putting incentives in the marketplace to keep the plants running.”

Automakers can also count on other markets to make their profits. In China, August sales rose 56 percent over last August, to about 1.2 million vehicles.

In the U.S., though, customers remain hesitant.

“Buyers are still kind of wrestling with this new reality of incentives that aren’t going to be as great as they’ve been in the past,” said Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting for J.D. Power and Associates. “Eventually they’ll say, ‘This is how it’s going to be,’ and come back.”

Schuster said some buyers might be waiting for Labor Day sales this weekend. The sales may not be great compared with previous years, but they’ll look better simply because promotions have been so scarce, he said.

Chrysler, which rolled out a new Jeep Grand Cherokee, was the only major automaker to report August gains. It also did not benefit as much as competitors from the Clunkers program because it relies more heavily on trucks and large cars.

Also, because they didn’t get a lift from Clunkers, luxury cars and SUVs sold better this August than in 2009. Sales of the GMC Yukon came in 92 percent better, the Ford Expedition 57 percent better. Jaguar sales rose 62 percent, and Porsche was up 33 percent.

But sales of small, fuel-efficient cars were down in August from a year ago, when the rebates were in effect — 35 percent for the Toyota Prius, 40 percent for the Ford Focus and 67 percent for the Chevrolet Aveo.

Automakers figure total sales for this year will come in at about 11.5 million. In 2007, the last year before the recession struck the United States in force, sales came in at about 16 million.

High unemployment and the shaky housing market have made Americans reluctant to spend money. But Ford Motor Co.’s senior U.S. economist, Emily Kolinski Morris, noted that households are saving more money, cash that will be ready when they need a new car. Also, more vehicles have been scrapped than sold over the last 18 months, indicating pent-up demand, she said.

Overall, sales at Ford were down 5 percent from July and 11 percent from last August. At GM, sales of its four remaining brands were down 7 percent from a month ago and 11 percent from a year ago.

For the year so far, sales are up 5 percent at GM, which is preparing for an initial public offering of its stock that could come as early as next month. The IPO will allow the government, GM’s majority shareholder, to unload some or all of its holdings. Wednesday was also Daniel Akerson’s first day as GM’s CEO, taking over from Ed Whitacre.

At Toyota, sales plunged 34 percent compared with last August and 12 percent from July. The poor comparison to last August was expected because Cash for Clunkers helped smaller Toyota cars like the Corolla and Camry sedans.

For August compared with July, sales fell 3 percent at Honda, 7 percent each at Nissan and Subaru and 8 percent at Kia Motors Corp. All of them reported bigger drops compared with August 2009 because of Clunkers sales. August sales at Hyundai were essentially flat.

DETROIT – BMW AG’s namesake brand increased U.S. sales 1.6 percent in August and beat Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus nameplate as the top U.S. luxury brand for the third straight month, reported Bloomberg.

BMW sales rose to 19,540 as deliveries of its 1 series gained 53 percent and the 7 series climbed 42 percent. Lexus deliveries decreased 15 percent to 19,465.

“We are seeing a slowdown in the market and do not expect the second half of the year to be as strong as the first half,” Jim O’Donnell, BMW of North America president, said in a statement. “Despite this, building momentum throughout the year and narrowing the gap with our competitors is still our plan.”

Lexus was one of the few luxury brands to post a sales decline in an overall U.S. market that dropped 21 percent last month. Most of those brands had fallen in August of 2009, when the U.S. cash-for-clunkers incentives spurred sales of small, fuel-efficient cars.

Lexus had record recalls in the past year, including of its LS 460 cars and GX 460 SUVs, and is facing competition from revamped models by BMW and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz. BMW, which beat Lexus in June and July, has set a goal of becoming the best-selling U.S. luxury brand by 2012.

“The new product is just so important for the entire market but especially for the luxury segment where it is much more discerning between old versus new,” said Jessica Caldwell, senior analyst with Edmunds.com, a Santa Monica, Calif.- based provider of industry data.

Mercedes sales increased 15 percent to 19,682 vehicles. The gain was helped by the revamped E-Class, which rose 26 percent for the month and has gained 71 percent for the year through August.

Lexus remains the U.S. luxury sales leader for the year, with 145,490 deliveries through August, an 11 percent increase. Mercedes sales, including Sprinter vans, have gained 22 percent to 144,753, and BMW’s U.S. sales increased 7.8 percent to 139,236 vehicles.

SEOUL – Hyundai Motor Co. posted on Wednesday its poorest sales in six months, as demand weakened in the summer vacation period, but it fared better than smaller rivals after introducing an upgraded car in its domestic market, reported Reuters.

South Korea’s Hyundai, the world’s No.5 automaker along with its affiliate Kia Motor Corp., said August sales rose 17 percent from a year earlier but fell 2.2 percent from July to 288,313 units, the lowest since February.

Its local sales inched up 0.6 percent after it unveiled a new, upgraded Elantra compact last month.

“Competition in the domestic market remains tough and we plan to further upgrade ageing models and boost marketing to revive weak domestic sales,” Hyundai said in a statement.

Sales in overseas markets dropped 2.8 percent from July to 238,951 vehicles but rose 20 percent from a year ago, thanks to increased demand from China and the United States.

Hyundai said sales in the United States jumped more than 18 percent, helped by a new Sonata sedan, which accounted for nearly half of Hyundai’s U.S. sales this year and helped it grow its market share there to a record 4.6 percent this year.

But U.S. safety regulators have opened a preliminary investigation into claims that Sonata, Hyundai’s best-selling car in America, may have steering problems, government officials said on Tuesday.

Kia Motors, Korea’s second-largest automaker, saw its sales slump 16 percent in August from a record in July and hit a 6-month low, affected by weak seasonality.

Ssangyong Motor Co., which is in bankruptcy protection and signed a preliminary acquisition deal with India’s Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. in August, said sales more than tripled from a year ago as it remained on a firm recovery track. But vehicle sales edged down 11 percent from the previous month.

Shares in Hyundai Motor finished up 1.8 percent and Kia shares jumped 3.6 percent after it reached a tentative agreement with its labor union on a wage deal, which will help it avoid annual labor strikes for the first time in two decades.