Fleet Purchases Boost U.S. Automakers’ Sales

Detroit’s Big Three automakers reported unexpected increases in vehicle sales in the U.S. market as fleet customers such as rental-car companies bought more vehicles. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. also continued to post big gains.

General Motors Corp., the world’s largest automaker, said its January sales rose 5.8%, as purchases by fleets increased 30%. Last month Ford Motor Co.’s sales rose 2%, thanks to a 21% gain in fleet sales.

But sales to individual consumers declined 7% for GM and 6% for Ford, the companies said Wednesday.

“If you take out the fleet aberration, the sales were closer to what everyone expected,” said Pete Hastings, a fixed-income analyst at Morgan Keegan in Memphis, Tenn.

Industrywide sales rose 7.6% to 1.14 million cars and light trucks, Autodata Corp. said.

Asian automakers were led by gains of 21% for Honda and 14% for Toyota, although Nissan Motor Co.’s sales fell 0.9%. The Asian companies’ share of the U.S. market grew to 37.5% last month from 36.3% a year earlier, according to Autodata, and has increased each month since July.

DaimlerChrysler’s Chrysler group also reported a sales increase. DaimlerChrysler’s sales of Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz vehicles were up 4.8%, including a 5% rise for Chrysler.

The U.S. automakers were expected to sell fewer vehicles in January than they did a year earlier. The Toyota and Honda increases were bigger than forecast.

Gains in fleet sales, along with stronger-than-expected demand from individual customers, buoyed the industry, GM sales analyst Paul Ballew said. Sales to rental-car companies and other large-scale purchasers are generally less profitable than sales to individual buyers.

Ford’s sales had a “heavy fleet component,” company sales analyst George Pipas said in a conference call. “January is definitely the exception, not the rule,” Pipas said of fleet sales. The automaker expects such sales to rise as much as 5% this year, he said. Fleet sales accounted for 39% of Ford’s total last month, Pipas said.

Ford said sales of cars rose 18%, led by the Fusion sedan that was introduced in October. Sales rose 9% for the Mustang sports car and 0.8% for the Taurus sedan, which is sold mostly to rental-car companies.

Ford truck sales fell 6.6%; included in the decline was a 23% decrease in Explorer mid-size sport utility vehicles and a 30% fall for Expedition large SUVs. Sales rose 7% for F-Series pickups, the largest-selling line of vehicles in the U.S.

The company had lost sales for four straight months through December.

Toyota, fourth in U.S. sales, said its sales gain was driven by Avalon sedans, Prius gas-electric hybrids and Scion small cars. Redesigned Lexus luxury models including the GS and IS sedans, introduced last year, more than tripled their sales levels from a year earlier.

Honda, the No. 5 carmaker in the U.S., said its sales jumped because of a 56% surge in sales of the redesigned Civic small car. Sales of the Accord, Honda’s top-selling U.S. model, rose 9.8%.

Nissan’s sales of the mid-size Altima and Infiniti sports sedans have begun to cool more than four years after the models were launched, Jed Connelly, Nissan’s U.S. sales chief, said.

In January, GM’s incentives averaged $3,849 a vehicle, a decline of 23% from a year earlier, said Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research in Bandon, Ore.

Ford’s average discount was $4,117, a 17% drop, and Chrysler’s was $3,607, an 18% decrease, Spinella said.