Sales figures show autos are tanking; Toyota, Ford report 20%-plus drops

Automakers are reporting June U.S. sales results today, and in early going, things look decidedly rough.

General Motors Corp., the largest American automaker, saw sales fall 19% compared with June 2007, but still managed to sell 72,000 more vehicles than Toyota Motor Co. and retain the U.S. sales crown for the month. Toyota’s sales decreased 21% in June compared with the same month last year, and 7% through the first six months of the year.

Ford Motor Co., meanwhile, saw sales drop a whopping 29% for the month compared with a year earlier. Through the first six months of the year, Ford sales have fallen 14% from 2007.

Honda provided the day’s first, and possibly only, positive result. It saw sales increase by 1.1% on the month, led by climbing demand for its most fuel-efficient models, such as the Fit and Civic.

Honda would likely have sold more vehicles if it had been able to produce more of its popular Civic and Civic hybrid models, which were in extremely short supply last month.

“Our factories are doing everything they can to produce the fuel-efficient models consumers are desperately in need of,” said Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda.

Other automakers were scheduled to report their sales figures later in the day. June 2008 had three fewer selling days than June 2007.

With gas prices soaring, consumer confidence is plummeting and sales of SUVs and pick-up trucks are in the tank. In May, GM saw its lead over Toyota shrink to fewer than 10,000 vehicles and its share of the entire U.S. market slip below 20% for the first time since before World War II. Some analysts had expected Toyota to surpass GM in June monthly sales, but strong sales of cars such as the compact Chevy Cobalt and midsize Chevy Malibu, up 22% and 73%, respectively, helped hold off the Japanese giant. The overall decline of the national car market does not bode well for the American economy as a whole. Because a vehicle is the second-largest purchase most people make, car sales are an important economic indicator.

Through May, overall sales of cars and light trucks in the U.S. were down 8.4%, and the industry is bracing itself to sell 14.5 million vehicles, or fewer, for all of 2008. In 2007, 16.1 million vehicles were sold.

Much of the decline comes from changing financial fundamentals such as the nationwide slump in the housing market, but oil prices also play a huge role. With gas looking to stay at or above $4 per gallon for some time, consumers are turning away from the large vehicles they have been purchasing for the last 15 years. That’s hitting American brands more than foreign carmakers.

Ford, like GM and Chrysler, has a lineup weighted heavily to the larger end of the scale. Two-thirds of the 979,571 vehicles it has sold this year are SUVs, crossovers and light trucks. Brands such as Toyota and Honda have mixes that favor cars. Through June, 61% of the vehicles Toyota sold were cars. (But even Toyota suffered on the truck side. Sales of its trucks and SUVs declined 39% for June.)

“Consumer fundamentals and consumer confidence deteriorated as the first half unfolded,” said Jim Farley, Ford’s vice president for marketing and communications. “The economy enters the second half of the year with a notable absence of momentum and a high degree of uncertainty.”

Of the 19 models Ford sells in its Lincoln, Mercury and Ford brands, only two – the Fusion mid-size sedan and the Flex crossover – saw sales increases in June, and Flex sales increased only because it’s a new model and was not available previously. For the year, only four Ford models have shown sales increases.

News of the sales decline hurt Ford stock, which had already been close to record lows in trading over the last week. In early trading in New York, Ford was down 19 cents, or 4%, to $4.61.

Less than a month ago, billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian purchased 20 million Ford shares at $8.50 a share, a tender offer that was oversubscribed many fold. His stake now stands at 6.5% in the struggling company, which has not turned a profit since 2005.

U.S.-traded shares of Toyota fell 98 cents, or 1%, to $93.08.

And in early going, shares in GM, which hit a 34-year low last week, were up 37 cents, or 3.5%, to $11.93.

 ken.bensinger@latimes.com