The Wall Street Journal€™s website, www.wsj.com, reported the total number of cars and light-duty trucks sold through February of 2016 and February of 2017. The top 16 of 29 manufacturers are listed here. Sales data often are reported in this way to compare current sales to last year€™s sales. See the data file for the complete list and use it to respond to the following questions.

a. Using computer software, compare the 2016 year-to-date sales through February to the 2017 year-to-date sales through February for each manufacturer by computing the difference. Using computer software, sort the list of the manufacturers in order of largest to smallest difference in year-to-date sales.

b. For each manufacturer, compare 2016 year-to-date sales through February to 2017 year-to-date sales through February by computing the percentage change in year-todate sales using computer software. Using computer software, sort the list of manufacturers from largest to smallest using the percentage change. Which manufacturers are in the top five in percentage change? Which manufacturers are in the bottom five in percentage change?

c. Using computer software, sort the list of manufacturers from largest to smallest using 2017 year-to-date sales through February. Then, design a bar graph to illustrate the 2016 and 2017 year-to-date sales through February for the top 12 manufacturers. Also, design a bar graph to illustrate the percentage change for the top 12 manufacturers. Compare these two graphs and prepare brief written comments.

Transcribed Image Text:

Year-to-Date Sales Through February 2017 Through February Manufacturer 2016 General Motors Corp. 433,049 431,570 Ford Motor Company 378,650 388,523 349,238 Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. Chrysler 317,387 315,684 353,525 236,645 Nissan North America Inc. 248,059 American Honda Motor Co Inc. 228,066 219,482 Hyundal Motor Amerlca 99,527 98,020 Subaru of America Inc. 89,379 83,112 Kla Motors Amerlca Inc. 78,299 88,042 Mercedes-Benz 51,773 54,611 Volkswagen of America Inc. 42,400 48,655 Mazda Motor of America Inc. 44,522 41,247 BMW of North Amerlca Inc. 40,667 40,580 23,568 Audl of America Inc. 26,942 Mitsublshi Motors NA Inc. 17,381 14,134 9,504 Volvo 8,123