US car sales plunged in June to a 15-year low, but a month-end clearance sale helped General Motors Corp retain its No. 1 spot and steer clear of the wipeout many had feared, sending its shares higher.
Record petrol prices and declining trade-in values for big trucks and SUVs hit truck sales hard while major automakers, including Toyota, struggled to keep up with demand for some popular smaller cars and hybrids.
GM was the industry’s main surprise after a sale featuring zero percent financing for six years allowed the US carmaker to avoid losing sales leadership in the month to Toyota.
In a reversal of recent trends, Toyota trailed GM in June with a 21% sales decline, reflecting a 31% drop in sales of its trucks like the Tundra pickup.
Equally damaging, sales of Toyota’s hybrids including the market-leading Prius hybrid dropped 27% as dealer inventory ran short of demand.
The Japanese carmaker sees US vehicle sales hitting bottom this year, with a modest recovery in 2009, and a substantial rebound in US auto sales in 2010 and beyond.
“GM was better than expected, and it looks like Toyota missed a big opportunity in the month,” said Jesse Toprak, an analyst with industry-tracking website Edmunds.com.
Ford sales were down 28%, while Chrysler sales fell 36%, the weakest result in the industry. Now controlled by Cerberus Capital Management, the privately held carmaker relies on light trucks for almost 70% of its sales.
By contrast, Honda, which boasts the most fuel-efficient vehicle line-up among major carmakers, bucked the downturn and posted a 1% sales gain.
Sales for Nissan were down 18%.
Most analysts and major automakers now expect full-year US sales to end up near 15 million units, down from 16.15 million in 2007 because of the devastated US housing market, high gas prices and weak consumer confidence.
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