Ford's May Sales Fall 24%
Ford Motor Co. reported a 24% decline in U.S. sales for May, as the auto manufacturer posted its highest monthly sales since last June.
Nissan North America, meantime, reported a 33.1% drop in its May sales from a year earlier, but said the number jumped by 43% from April.
Ford is the healthiest of the Detroit Three and has avoided a bankruptcy filing and the need for government aid. Chrysler LLC filed for bankruptcy May 1 while larger rival General Motors Corp. filed Monday.
Ford plans to take advantage of the competitors' troubles, announcing Tuesday a 10,000-vehicle increase in second-quarter production and projecting its third-quarter output will be up some 10% from a year earlier--Ford's first significant production increases in almost two years.
The company gained U.S. market share in six of the seven months preceding April. That month, it beat Japan-based Toyota Motor Corp. in the U.S. for the first time in 13 months. On Tuesday, the company said its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury market share grew in May to its highest level since 2006.
Ford said its total U.S. light-vehicle sales last month were 161,197, down from 212,508 a year earlier. Ford, Lincoln and Mercury car sales fell 24% while sport-utility vehicles continued to tumble, down 37% in May. Sales of trucks and vans dropped 29%.
Among the highlights, Ford said its Fusion cracked the top three of America's top-selling midsized sedans last month, putting a domestic car in that echelon for the first time since July 2002. Also, sales of hybrid vehicles set a record for Ford.
Inventories totaled 350,000 at the end of May, equivalent to a 56-day supply, down 10% from a month earlier and 38% from May 2008.
Last week, car-shopping Web site Edmunds.com said it expected May's new-vehicle sales in the U.S. to fall 36% from a year earlier, but improve 8.9% from April as the industry continues to show signs of stability.
The numbers from Ford and Nissan may suggest a bottoming out in the U.S. car market, a point that makers have been hoping to find for the past several months. It is still unknown how much Chrysler is affecting the market after it informed 789 dealers that they had to get rid of their inventory since they were being cut from the network.
"May had the best traffic we have seen since August of last year," said Al Castignetti, Nissan North America's vice president and general manager. "I think people want to shop."
Nissan's May sales totaled 67,489, compared to 100,874 from the same period a year earlier.
Mr. Castignetti said the auto maker has begun working with those Chrysler dealers who also sell Nissan products. The company, which has a network of 1,062, wants to keep as many dealers as possible.
Other auto makers will report sales later Tuesday.
online.wsj.com |
