Ford Taurus Is Accorded the Crown : Autos: The sedan beats out its Honda rival as best-selling car in a lackluster year that showed some glimmer toward the end.
Fueled by heavy discounts and a massive advertising blitz, Ford Motor Co.’s Taurus sedan beat out the Honda Accord as the best-selling car in America in 1992, marking the first time in three years that the title has been held by a U.S. car maker.
The hotly contested battle between the Taurus and Accord helped the industry end a lackluster 1992 on a strong note, with December car and truck sales climbing 7.7% over the same month last year.
For the year, auto makers reported sales of just under 13 million cars and trucks--a modest 5.4% increase over 1991’s poor results--as recessionary fears kept many Americans away from dealer showrooms for the second year in a row. But analysts and dealers said sales have picked up significantly over the last two months, and most expect a steady recovery throughout 1993.
“For the most part, it was just a real tough year for everybody,” said Christopher Cedergren, an analyst at Santa Ana-based AutoPacific Group. “I think most manufacturers are just happy it’s over with and looking for 1993 to be better.”
Analysts expect U.S. vehicle sales to reach between 13.1 million and 14 million this year, depending on how quickly the economy recovers. The outlook for California, the nation’s single largest auto market with 12% of total sales, will have a significant impact on the speed of the industry’s recovery.
The sales reports came as the leaders of the Big Three U.S. auto makers met with President-elect Bill Clinton in Little Rock, Ark., to press for regulatory relief and higher tariffs on some Japanese vehicles.
For the first time in years, the three U.S. auto manufacturers managed to grab market share from their Japanese rivals, largely because of strong sales of light trucks, minivans and sport-utility vehicles--market segments where the Big Three dominate. The Detroit auto makers controlled 72.5% of the U.S. car and truck market in 1992, up 1.7 percentage points from 1991.
The Taurus’ victory over the Accord as the country’s best-selling car was all the more sweet because it came in the lucrative mid-size car segment, where the Japanese have made deep inroads over the last decade.
Ford sold 409,751 Tauruses in 1992, while Honda sold 393,477 Accords.
Ford is the only Big Three manufacturer to post a car sales gain in 1992. The company’s car sales rose 9.7% to 1.73 million. Ford truck sales rose 14.5% to 1.41 million, with its F-series pickup truck remaining the top-selling vehicle in the United States for the 11th year in a row.
General Motors Corp. said sales of its domestically made cars slipped 1.2% to 2.75 million in 1992, while the No. 1 auto maker’s truck sales rose 10.1%. Chrysler Corp.’s truck sales surged 28%, fueled by minivans and its new Jeep Grand Cherokee, while its 1992 car sales slipped 3% from 1991.
Top Sellers
The top 10 selling cars and trucks in the United States in 1992:
Ford F-series pickup trucks: 488,539 Chevrolet C-K pickup trucks: 431,543 Ford Taurus: 409,751 Honda Accord: 393,477 Ford Explorer sport truck: 306,681 Toyota Camry: 286,602 Ford Ranger pickup truck: 247,777 Dodge Caravan minivan: 244,149 Ford Escort: 236,622 Chevrolet Lumina: 218,114 Source: Associated Press
