North American-Made Vehicle Sales Drop 23%

Sales of North American-made cars and light trucks continued their slide in early February, falling 23.6% on war and recession fears, figures showed Wednesday.

Even Honda, whose Accord is America’s best-selling car, had a 14.1% decline in sales of Accord and Civic cars built in Ohio and Canada.

The only domestic auto makers to avoid a loss in sales during the period were Mazda and Mitsubishi, which have increased their domestic production and make more North American-built vehicles available to U.S. dealers.

Figures from nine of the 10 major auto makers building vehicles in North America reported sales of cars and light trucks at an average daily rate of 19,910 during the Feb. 1-10 period this year, compared to a rate of 26,067 for the nine companies during the same time last year.

Chrysler Corp. doesn’t report sales for 10-day periods. An Associated Press estimate of its combined car and truck sales placed the auto maker’s sales down 23.7% from early February last year. The estimate is based on Chrysler’s average monthly market share over the previous 12-month period.

Including the Chrysler estimate, the daily sales rate for early February was 22,973 this year, compared to a rate of 30,083 during the same time last year.

Through Feb. 10 of this year and including the Chrysler estimate, combined car and truck sales were 26.5% behind last year’s pace.

All of the auto makers have been wrestling with slumping sales stemming from the recession and lack of consumer confidence because of the Gulf War.