Cars drive over trucks in sales

America is now officially a car market. May figures released on Tuesday, June 3, 2008.

Even as industrywide sales of new vehicles declined 10.7% in May, sales of passenger cars were up 2.4%.

Meanwhile, sales of pickups, SUVs, minivans and crossovers plummeted 23.6%, according to monthly sales results released Tuesday.

Detroit's automakers, who have long depended on their truck leadership for the bulk of their profits, suffered the worst declines as a result. Truck sales were down 36.9% at General Motors Corp., 25.6% at Ford Motor Co. and 24.3% at Chrysler LLC.

Nearly 60% of all new vehicles purchased in the United States last month were cars, with the smallest, most affordable ones performing best.

Ford Focus sales were up 53.2%. Excluding sales to fleet customers (because fleets usually buy Focus, but not consumers), Farley said that retail demand for the Focus was actually up 105%. The Focus is now the eighth best-selling vehicle in America.

Ford sold 10.8% of the cars purchased in America last month, a gain of 0.2 percentage points. By contrast, Toyota Motor Corp. lost 0.4 percentage points of car share, ending the month with 21.2%.

Honda and Acura brands posted a combined 31.9% gain in car sales. Sales were up 53% for the Fit subcompact car, 31.7% for the Civic compact car, 38.9% for the Accord midsize car. The only other major automaker to post a gain approaching Honda's was Hyundai, which saw a 26.3% improvement. Mini posted a 52.8% gain in car sales.

Nissan Motor Co. car sales, including Infiniti, were up 18.7%, on the strength of the Nissan Altima midsize car, which posted a 43.6% gain over the same month a year ago.Cars drive over trucks in sales | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
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Near my house, gasoline prices climbed to $4.35 over the weekend!!! I have a feeling, another wave of people offloading SUVs will come again this weekend. Flickr photo: Descarga de fotos de Flickr: CIMG4645