Ford, GM report big drop in sales in August

Employee pricing, low-interest financing and other incentives pulled buyers off the fence and into the market last month and raised pickup truck sales, said Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for the automotive information site Edmunds.com.

Many buyers have postponed purchases for the past year, so GM may not see a decline in coming months, he said. Toprak predicted month-over-month sales improvements for the rest of the year, but sales still below last year’s levels.

“I think this is the bottom,” he said. “I think that we are going to start seeing some steady improvement from here on.”

While Chrysler had a huge decline from the year-ago period, it showed a 12.3 percent gain over July. But compared with August of last year, Chrysler’s car sales were down 39 percent and its truck sales were off 33 percent.

Ford sales dropped 3.6 percent compared with July, due in part to its continuing plan to reduce low-profit sales to rental car companies and other fleet buyers, Pipas said. The company said Wednesday that it plans to cut 50,000 more vehicles from its production plan in the second half of the year, reducing its output to 890,000 in the last six months of 2008.

The Dearborn-based automaker said its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury car sales dropped nearly 9 percent in August, while truck sales were off more than 32 percent from a year earlier.

There were some bright spots for Ford. Sales of its Focus small car were up 23 percent in August, while Escape small SUV sales rose 17 percent compared with the same month a year ago.

Both Ford and GM reported big inventory reductions in August as they switch to the 2009 model year.

Toyota said its car sales were down 3.4 percent from August 2007, and trucks were down 17.6 percent. Sales of the tiny Yaris were up more than 20 percent for the month, while the Camry midsize sedan saw sales grow by 3.3 percent, the company said.

GM said its sales of light trucks tumbled 24.1 percent from August of last year, while car sales fell 13.9 percent.

Honda’s car sales fell 4.9 percent and demand for trucks dropped 10.3 percent.

Nissan said its car sales fell 0.8 percent but its truck sales climbed 34.8 percent on strong sales of its Frontier, Xterra and Rogue models and the Infiniti EX and FX crossovers.

Also in msnbc.com business Your Career: Married to the job, and each other Answer Desk: Qualifying for more jobless benefits Venza sorta-crossover is Toyota’s latest mistake ConsumerMan: Chinese drywall remains a big threat   Video: Nervous retailers begin Christmas countdown

MORE FROM AUTOS

Autos Section Front

Chinese automaker aims to compete globally CEO lays out ambitious Chrysler road map Cars are approaching ‘auto’ pilot mode Review: Toyota Venza falls short What automakers have in store for 2010 Ford to put air bags into back seat belts Clunker deals: old Ford pickups for new ones New Dodge models part of Chrysler’s plans U.S. rips Toyota statement on floor mats GM posts first sales gain in nearly two years Autos Section Front   Add Autos headlines to your news reader: