Toyota, Honda outsell popular Ford F-series

04.06.2008 10:01 Shopping - Source: toledoblade.com

That was part of an overall shift in U.S. auto sales in May that brought the starkest signs yet that gas prices have dramatically shifted the market to smaller cars.

The Toyota Corolla and Camry and Honda Civic and Accord sedans each outsold the F-series truck, which saw monthly sales plummet 31 percent in May to 42,973. F-series trucks have been the best-selling trucks in the U.S. for 31 years and the best-selling vehicles overall almost as long.

F-series trucks have also been the best-selling vehicles each month since June, 2005, when the Chevrolet Silverado pickup took a brief lead, said Tom Libby, senior director of industry analysis for the Power Information Network, a division of J.D. Power. The last time a car topped the monthly sales charts was the Ford Taurus sedan in December, 1992, according to Ford's top U.S. sales analyst George Pipas.

The Silverado, April's No. 2 seller, slipped to sixth.

High gas prices, the weak economy, and low consumer confidence are taking their toll on sales of larger vehicles.

Ford Motor Co. sales chief Jim Farley said small and mid-size cars made up 47 percent of sales in May, up from 34 percent in February.

"It is a watershed month," said Mr. Farley, Ford's head of marketing, who joined the U.S. automaker last year after 17 years at Toyota.

Sean McAlinden, chief economist with the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, said the U.S. market will likely look like the European one, where small cars make up nearly 40 percent of sales, in 5 to 10 years. That shift could make it harder for the Detroit Three to win customers, he said.

"Only a few companies ever made really good trucks, but a lot of companies make good little cars," he said. "The competition level is going to go up, way up."

Japan's Honda Motor Co Ltd outsold Chrysler for the first time to emerge as the new No. 4 U.S. automaker, while Toyota Motor Corp closed the gap with GM as the leading player in the U.S. market, despite reporting lower sales than a year before.

Sales of Toledo-built vehicles continued to plummet in May, despite Chrysler's efforts to prop them up with incentives, including a $2.99 per gallon gas guarantee. None of the vehicles made at the Toledo Jeep Assembly complex gets more than low 20s miles per gallon.

Sales of the Jeep Liberty fell 19 percent from a year ago to 6,228 units, while sales of its companion vehicle, the Dodge Nitro, plummeted by 56 percent to 2,667 units last month. Sales of the Jeep Wrangler - which shot up in 2007 after the introduction of the first-ever four-door Unlimited model - dropped 25 percent from a year ago to 9,260 units last month.

For the first five months this year, Nitro sales were off 32 percent to 21,321, Wrangler sales were down 27 percent to 39,773, and Liberty sales were down 14 percent to 35,917. All three are made at the Toledo Jeep Assembly complex.

Chrysler said car sales fell 33 percent and truck sales were down 22 percent despite the $2.99 gas incentive program. Chrysler said the decline was mainly because of a 40 percent cutback in sales to rental car companies and other fleets.

Steven Landry, executive vice president for North American sales, said the $2.99 gas incentive has lured people into dealerships and will be continued through July 7. He said between 5 percent and 10 percent of buyers are choosing the fuel guarantee over other incentives.

Ford's U.S. car sales were up 3 percent compared with last May, and it sold more than 30,000 Ford Focus small cars for only the second time in the car's nine-year history. But its pickup and SUV sales dropped 26 percent.

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