GM, Ford See Monthly Sales Drop
General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. said their February U.S. sales fell, after fleet customers boosted January results, while DaimlerChrysler, Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. all reported gains.
GM and Ford, the largest U.S. automakers, also said Wednesday that they would cut second-quarter production in North America. Sales of cars and trucks declined 2.5% last month from a year earlier at GM and 4% at Ford. DaimlerChrysler’s Chrysler Group posted a 2.5% increase, and the gains were 8.7% at Honda, 2.4% at Toyota and 2.2% at Nissan.
“Ford looks to be in the toughest shape,” said Jim Sourges, sector leader of the Americas automotive group at Cap Gemini.
Ford and GM weren’t able to follow up on January gains that resulted from increased purchases by rental car companies and other corporate fleets. The two automakers are planning to trim a combined 60,000 jobs in North America because of falling U.S. market share as rivals such as Toyota win more customers.
Asian automakers boosted their February U.S. market share to 37% from 36.1% a year earlier, according to Woodcliff Lake, N.J.-based Autodata. GM, Ford and Chrysler’s combined share fell to 56.6% from 57.9%. The figures exclude European brands of GM and Ford.
GM said its February U.S. sales fell to 301,545 cars and trucks. Sales declined 13% for cars and rose 5.3% for light trucks.
GM said it would reduce second-quarter North American production by 3.7% to 1.2 million cars and trucks.
Ford said it would cut North American production by 1.8% in the second quarter to 890,000 cars and trucks.
Ford’s sales of Explorer mid-size sport utility vehicles and large Expedition SUVs both declined 21%, while sales of its F-Series pickup trucks, the industry’s top-selling line of vehicles, rose 5.5%.
DaimlerChrysler, the world’s fifth-largest automaker, said February sales rose 4.3%, including the Chrysler increase and a 28% boost for Mercedes-Benz.
Toyota, the world’s No. 2 automaker, said it sold 166,940 cars and trucks, led by the Avalon sedan, new RAV4 small SUV and mid-size Tacoma pickup.
Nissan, which ranks sixth in U.S. sales, said its gains were led by the Sentra compact and mid-size Altima sedan. Sales of the Tokyo-based company’s Infiniti luxury brand fell 5.5%.
Honda, which is fifth in U.S. sales, said it sold 106,644 vehicles in February. The Tokyo-based automaker benefited from a 32% increase for its Civic small car and sales of the Accord sedan rose 4.4%.
Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, said its U.S. sales rose 0.2% from a year earlier.
GM was expected to report a sales rise of 1.3%, the average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. The analysts estimated declines of 6.3% for Ford and 5% for Chrysler.
Paul Ballew, GM’s sales analyst, estimated the company’s share of the U.S. market was less than 24% in February, lower than the 24.4% level in February 2005.
Ballew also said GM was “not announcing any national incentive program for the month of March.”
GM lost $8.55 billion in 2005 and it is trying to return its North American business to profitability.
