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General Motors gained ground against rivals in September with a 4 per cent US sales increase, while Ford sales plunged 18 per cent and Toyota sales were off 1 per cent for a third monthly decline.
Overall US car sales steadied in September after adjusting for the number of sales days. That bucked Wall St expectations of a decline in the closely watched indicator of consumer demand, sales results released yesterday showed.
The adjusted 1 per cent gain in industry-wide sales came despite a housing downturn, and a tightening of credit blamed for driving lower income buyers out of the market for new vehicles in recent months.
"It's very difficult out there for a lot of families," said Aaron Bragman, an analyst with industry tracking firm Global Insight. "You've got high gas prices. You've the risk of foreclosures."
Led by GM, major carmakers with newer products on offer did well despite the weaker economy. Honda posted a gain of nearly 14 per cent, boosted by the strong launch of its new Accord sedan.
Sales at Nissan were also up 11 per cent, driven in part by gains for the company's Altima Coupe in its third month on the market.
But for Toyota, now No 2 in the US market, the sales decline marked its most protracted slump since early 2003.
Ford's retail market share slipped to near the 13 per cent level targeted by the company under a sweeping restructuring plan, according to data compiled by Autodata Corp. Ford said it was on track to hold sales at that level for the year as a whole despite the weaker September results.
Chrysler sales fell almost 2 per cent, to a 12 per cent share.
- Reuters
