Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday posted its first monthly sales gain since January as its light trucks business stabilized after a downturn that forced an accelerated restructuring at the No. 2 U.S. automaker, according to Reuters. Buoyed by an uptick in sales of its market-leading F-Series pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles like the Explorer and Expedition, Ford posted a 5-percent rise in September sales. The numbers were not adjusted for an additional sales day last month compared to September 2005, but provided support for the widespread view that U.S. light truck sales had begun to steady after a 10-percent slide this year. DaimlerChrysler AG, which relies more heavily than Ford on its truck lineup, posted a 2-percent decline in its monthly U.S. sales, its sixth consecutive drop. DaimlerChrysler was set to detail its sales results later on Tuesday, as other automakers including General Motors Corp. , announced their own monthly results. Ford's sales report was the first from the automaker since it announced a stepped-up program of cost-cutting, including the elimination of 14,000 salaried jobs in September. At that time, Ford said that its marketshare could continue to slide. Nissan Motor Co., the sixth-largest player in the U.S car market, posted a sales drop of 9 percent on an adjusted basis, even as sales of its Titan pickup truck bounced back from recent lows. Brad Bradshaw, North American sales chief for Nissan, said he expected sales of pickup trucks would steady on the back of cheaper gas prices, even though full-size SUVs remain weak. "To me it says that there are some buyers out there that need to buy a pickup truck," he said. SLIGHT OVERALL SALES GAIN SEEN Analysts had forecast that overall U.S. auto sales would come in at an annual rate of about 16.6 million to 16.8 million units in September. That would be up from 16.5 million in September 2005, a month when inventories were run down and sales had begun to taper off after a record-breaking summer fueled by employee-level discounts. The U.S. auto market has been slowing since January, with sales off 4 percent through August, a trend attributed to a weaker housing market, higher interest rates and the earlier rise in gas prices. Analysts had expected September sales to show a partial recovery for the segment of the market's hardest hit amid the downturn: mid-size SUVs and full-size trucks. After climbing above $3 per gallon over this summer, gas prices in the United States tumbled in September, dropping to near $2.30 on average, down about 16 percent over the month. Both Chrysler and Ford also offered aggressive discounts on unsold 2006 model year trucks and sport utility vehicles in September to clear out inventory. The downturn in the market for light trucks hit the traditional Big Three U.S. carmakers especially hard because those vehicles are more profitable for manufacturers than passenger cars, which typically sell for less. In addition, the Detroit-based automakers rely on light trucks for well over half of their total U.S. sales. For GM, the amount is 60 percent, while at Ford it is 62 percent. For DaimlerChrysler the share is an industry-high 75 percent.
