June Auto Sales Figures Raise Hope Of Turnaround
NEW YORK: Ford Motor reported a modest decline in U.S. sales in June, feeding hopes that the industry may have finally turned the corner following the dramatic drop in sales that forced two of Ford’s rivals into bankruptcy.Ford’s June sales declined 11% from a year earlier, the smallest year-over-year decline since February 2008. Ford’s sales also came in better than the nearly 16% drop forecast by sales tracker Edmunds.com. Sales declined 4% from May though, ending a string of four straight months of improved sales on a month-over-month basis.Still, the stronger than expected sales from Ford could lead to industrywide light vehicles sales topping a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 10 million for the first time this year.0:00
/01:52GM tries to polish its imageFord also announced it was upping its third quarter production plans by 25,000 vehicles to 485,000. That will put production for the quarter 16% above year-ago levels. In another encouraging sign, Ford said its inventory declined by 8,000 vehicles over the past month.Ford appears to be benefiting from the problems faced by its two Big Three competitors. The company said that its market share rose 3 percentage points from a year ago, despite the decline in sales.During the month, Ford (F, Fortune 500) rival General Motors (GMGMQ) filed for bankruptcy protection, while Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy and formed an alliance with Italian automaker Fiat (FIATY). All major automakers, including Asian rivals Toyota Motor (TM) and Honda (HMC), are still expected to post double-digit year-over-year declines in U.S. sales for June when they report results later Wednesday, despite signs of improvement.
Source:CNN
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