U.S. Automobile Sales Fall 13% in Nov.

Automakers said U.S. sales fell 13% in November from a booming month a year ago, and an unexpected production cut by Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday sent shares down across the industry.

But despite the declines, November sales hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16 million vehicles, up from October’s four-year low of 15.4 million and a sign that Americans still are willing to buy cars and trucks.

The drop was led by a 21% decline at Ford and a 19% decline at General Motors Corp. DaimlerChrysler’s Chrysler unit said sales fell 12% as the entire industry faced a tough comparison with a sales boom last year sparked by no-interest loans.

The declines for import automakers were less severe, driving the monthly market share of Detroit’s Big Three down to a record low 58.8%, excluding their foreign brands.

“We anticipate that incentive activity will pick up in December as [automakers] work to meet year-end market-share targets,” Merrill Lynch analyst John Casesa said. “It’s likely that GM will further turn up the incentive heat as the company hopes to gain share for the year.”

Automakers have been fighting for buyers’ attention with incentives that averaged about $2,000 a vehicle in October. GM has been aggressively pushing no-interest loans and a no payments for 90 days offer, a deal Chrysler has added as well. Ford allowed lease customers to cancel their deals up to seven months early, as long as they leased another Ford vehicle.

The industry also may have been helped by some signs of recovery in the U.S. economy last month.

Inventories had been a growing concern for Wall Street, which had worried that weak sales could leave Chrysler and Ford with too many unsold vehicles by the end of the year, forcing them to cut production.

Ford said it cut its fourth-quarter vehicle production estimate for North America by 25,000 vehicles, to 940,000 cars and trucks.

With a few exceptions, other automakers reported less severe sales declines in November. Toyota Motor Corp. said its sales fell 5%, while Nissan Motor Co. saw sales fall 1.6% and Volkswagen said its sales were down 20%.

“It’s been tough probably since August. I think it’s going to continue to be tough for the next couple of months,” said Jed Connelly, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Nissan Motor Co. “I don’t see any magic change in December.”

Honda Motor Co. broke with the trend, with sales up 4.6%.