US automakers see mixed October sales

November 04, 2009 09:23:10 AM

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US automakers saw mixed sales results in October, with General Motors and Ford Motor Co. improving and rival Chrysler suffering a sharp drop, company figures showed Tuesday.

GM said it sold 177,603 new vehicles in the month, up four percent from last October, the company's first year-over-year gain since January 2008.

Sales were up 13 percent from September, which saw a pullback in car buying following the end of government incentives for trade-ins under the "cash for clunkers" program.

GM, which like Chrysler underwent a bankruptcy restructuring with US government support, said it was pleased with the performance of its four core brands, which accounted for about 95 percent of GM's retail sales.

"We're very pleased with consumer acceptance to our newest cars, crossovers and trucks," said Susan Docherty, GM vice president for US sales.

"While we have more work to do, we are making progress and will continue our focus on delivering vehicles and a sales and service experience that brings consumers to Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac -- and keeps them coming back."

Ford said US sales rose 3.1 percent from a year ago, the third increase in the past four months for the number-two automaker. Total sales of new cars under the Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo brands rose to 136,920 last month.

The figure was up 21 percent from September.

Ford said its retail market share was up for the 12th time in 13 months, helped by the new Taurus sedan and increased sales of its "crossover" sport utility vehicles.

"Consumer demand for our new high-quality, fuel-efficient products is driving Ford's market share gains," said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president.

"Ford vehicles are among the 'freshest' available by any automaker -- with more than 80 percent of our sales in October coming from our new 2010 models."

Ford estimates its total market share in October was more than 15 percent -- higher than a year ago and higher than its share in the first nine months of 2009.

Ford, the only one of the Big Three US automakers to avoid bankruptcy and a government bailout, on Monday posted surprise earnings of nearly a billion dollars for the past quarter and said it was on track to become "solidly profitable" by 2011.

Chrysler Group reported total US sales for October of 65,803 units, down 30 percent from a year earlier. Despite the year-over-year drop, the figure was up six percent compared with September.

"The industry showed signs of improvement this month with increasing sales, which is a trend we expect to continue for the remainder of the year," said Chrysler executive Fred Diaz.

"Chrysler Group expects to get its fair share of the increases as November and December traditionally are two of the best months for SUV (sport utility vehicle) sales, and the Jeep brand offers customers the best SUVs in the marketplace."

The new Chrysler is an alliance with Italy's Fiat, which took a stake in the number three US automaker under a government-backed bankruptcy reorganization.

Chrysler said it would offer zero percent financing on many cars along with other incentives in November as part of its effort to spark more sales.