GM bests Toyota in a dismal sales month

For the first half of the year, Ford’s sales were down 14 percent compared with the year-ago period.

U.S. auto sales had already fallen for seven straight months as of May, the longest period of consecutive monthly drops in eight years, according to the auto information Web site Edmunds.com.

When customers do buy, they’re picking smaller cars, crossovers and hybrids.

Ford said sales of its smallest car, the Ford Focus, rose 28 percent in the first six months of the year, although Focus sales fell in June. Pipas blamed the decline on supply problems and a cut in sales to fleet buyers.

The automaker said last month it plans to increase production of the Focus as well as the Mercury Mariner and Ford Escape small SUVs.

Mark LaNeve, GM’s vice president of North American sales, said industry analysts overestimated Toyota’s sales and underestimated GM’s.

He said it’s not possible to quantify exactly how much GM’s month-ending 72-hour sale boosted the June figures, he expects that GM’s sales would have still beaten analysts’ estimates even without it.

Despite slumping demand for light trucks, LaNeve said GM hasn’t given up on selling them.

“We need to run hard, we’re going to remain aggressive on the truck side of the market,” LaNeve said. “It’s still a significant part of the market and we’re going to try and gain share.”

Ford shares sank to a 52-week low of $4.41 early Tuesday but recovered to finish at $4.71, down 10 cents. They have traded as high as $9.64 over the past year.

GM shares rose 25 cents, or 2.2 percent, to close at $11.75 on Tuesday after briefly falling as low as $10.57 during Monday’s session. That was the lowest level for GM since Sept. 22, 1954, according to the Center for Research in Security Prices at the University of Chicago.

The Associated Press reports unadjusted auto sales figures, calculating the percentage change in the total number of vehicles sold in one month compared with the same month a year earlier. Some automakers report percentages adjusted for sales days. There were 24 sales days last month and 27 in June 2007.

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