Toyota Soars, Passes Ford to Rank No. 2 in U.S. Sales

Get down Ford!

Toyota Soars, Passes Ford to Rank No. 2 in U.S. Sales (Update7)

 

Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. passed Ford Motor Co. in July to become the No. 2 automaker in the U.S. for the first time as U.S. automakers said sales declined more than 20 percent after rising fuel prices curbed demand for light trucks.

 

Toyota sold 241,826 vehicles in the month, a 12 percent increase, while Ford dropped 34 percent to 241,399. Sales of General Motors Corp., the world's largest automaker, dropped 23 percent. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler fell 37 percent. Honda Motor Co., the No. 2 Japanese automaker in the U.S. behind Toyota, gained 6 percent while Nissan Motor Co. dropped 20 percent.

 

The declines at GM, Ford and Chrysler marked the fourth- straight monthly drop for the U.S.-based automakers. Asian automakers, led by Toyota and Honda, gained U.S. market share for a 12th consecutive month.

 

``The biggest driver in the decline this year is the historically high comparison to last year,'' said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. In July 2005, Ford and Chrysler followed GM by offering employee discounts to all buyers, triggering the second- strongest month of sales in U.S. history.

 

A decline in light truck sales hurts Ford, GM and Chrysler disproportionately because they rely more on those models for sales and they are among the automakers' most profitable. Through June, trucks accounted for 60 percent of GM's unit sales, 61 percent of Ford's and 70 percent of Chrysler's, according to Autodata Corp., a research firm in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

 

Trucks accounted for 43 percent of Toyota's sales in the first half, 42 percent of Honda's and 47 percent of Nissan's.

 

Average U.S. gasoline prices finished July at $3.01 a gallon, marking a 32 percent increase in the past 12 months, according to AAA data.

 

GM, Ford

 

GM's light vehicle sales, excluding medium-duty trucks, fell 22 percent to 406,298. Light truck sales declined 31 percent, and passenger car sales dropped 4.2 percent. Sales of the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GM's best-selling sport-utility vehicle, plunged 52 percent, and the Chevy Silverado pickup fell 31 percent.

 

Ford's sales dropped to 241,339 for the month, including a 44 percent decline in trucks, the company said today.

 

F-Series Slow

 

Sales of F-Series pickup trucks fell 46 percent to 68,982. In July 2005, with the employee-pricing offers, Ford sold 126,905 F-Series pickups, the most for a vehicle in any month since the company's Model T in the 1920s.

 

The Dearborn, Michigan, company's mid-size and large sport- utility vehicles also continued their slide. Sales of the Explorer fell 51 percent and the Expedition 57 was down percent.

 

DaimlerChrysler sales fell 34 percent to 171,940, Sales of the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge brands dropped to 150,349 from 240,146 a year earlier. Mercedes cars and truck sales rose 3.8 percent to 21,591.

 

U.S. automakers' summer sales will be at least 10 percent below year-earlier totals, analysts say. Sales of light trucks -- SUVs, pickups and minivans -- are falling at all three U.S. automakers, hurt by the increase in gasoline prices.

 

``Almost regardless of the incentives that are being offered, they're having a really tough time making money selling vehicles,'' Lindland said.

 

Overall U.S. sales through June fell 2.4 percent, with car sales up 2.5 percent and truck sales down 6.3 percent.

 

GM's sales declined 12 percent in the first six months of 2006, while Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford's sales were down 4.1 percent and Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler's were 4.9 percent lower.

 

In July 2005, Ford had its first monthly market share gain in more than two years when its offer of employee discounts sparked a 29 percent increase in sales.

 

``What goes around, comes around,'' Ford sales analyst George Pipas said.

 

Employee Pricing

 

Chrysler was the only U.S. automaker to bring back employee pricing in July. It also added rebates and interest-rate promotions. The automaker said today it will continue the program for another month.

 

GM offered employee pricing, which allows customers to pay the same price as workers, beginning in June 2005. The offer was matched by Ford and Chrysler and lasted through September.

 

August and September sales will be better than July's, but only because discounts will increase, said Paul Taylor, chief economist with the National Automobile Dealers Association.

 

Some automakers adjust percent changes in vehicle sales on a ``sales day'' basis and assume no sales occur on Sundays. Bloomberg News and some other automakers report unadjusted percentage changes. There were 25 selling days last month, one less than in July 2005. Unadjusted sales comparisons are about 4 percentage points lower than the adjusted.