Chrysler Surpasses Monthly Sales Record : Autos: Strong performance helps industry keep pace with last year’s results. Ford also gains.

Chrysler Corp. sold more cars and trucks in June than in any other month in its history, lifting the auto industry’s U.S. sales to a level about even with last year.

Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday that its June sales were up slightly from a year ago, while Toyota and Honda reported declines. General Motors Corp., Nissan and Mazda reported June declines on Monday.

It was the jump in Chrysler’s volume that pulled overall sales in the United States to a level just 0.5% shy from that of a year ago.

The No. 3 auto maker’s performance--which broke the record set in March, 1994, and was 11.7% ahead of June, 1994--proved the power of price cutting. Chrysler is paying rebates or offering other purchase or lease discounts on most of its products.

Chrysler’s domestic car sales rose a whopping 20.9% to 88,057 units, while truck sales rose 7.8% to 146,986 units.

“Spurred by some timely incentive offers, consumers rushed our dealerships,” Theodor Cunningham, Chrysler executive vice president, said in the sales report.

Analyst Art Spinella of CNW Marketing-Research in Bandon, Ore., said his company’s measure of the aggregate discounts offered to buyers and dealers of all brands last month was at its highest level since January, 1992.

For the first half of 1995, the industry’s U.S. sales were down 3.1% from the 1994 level. Ford was the only Big Three auto maker ahead of last year and Toyota was the only Japanese manufacturer that was up.

Most of the European car makers showed solid improvements; Volkswagen’s six-month total was up 18.3%.

Ford’s June sales were more of a mixed bag, rising 0.9% from a year earlier to 364,014 units. Ford’s sales of light trucks, led by strong demand for it Explorer sport-utility vehicle, rose 7.7% to 191,596, but the auto maker’s car sales were off 5.7% to 166,374 units.

Toyota’s June sales were down 2.8%. Honda’s were down 3.4%.

“The auto industry, like the economy, has slowed significantly over the first half of 1995,” Yale Gieszl, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., said in the No. 1 Japanese auto maker’s report.

The industry’s sales have lagged year-ago figures since January, prompting analysts and company economists to scale back forecasts that 1995 would be a better year than ’94. Most now believe that sales of light vehicles in this country will be about equal to last year’s 15.1 million.