General Motors and Ford lost more ground in their home market to Japanese rivals Toyota and Honda in February, according to US sales figures released on Wednesday.
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But Reuters noted that US sales by Toyota, which has been on track to unseat GM as the world’s largest automaker, rose only 2.4% in February – short of the 10% gain analysts were expecting.
“I wouldn’t read too much into one month of data for any automaker,” Argus Research analyst Kevin Tynan told the news agency. “What I’m looking for more is the trend. And Toyota shows the continuation of a positive trend, albeit at a slower pace.”
The report said GM’s overall US sales, including car and truck sales, dropped 2.5% in February and Ford’s US sales, excluding its import brands, were off 3%. But sales by rival Chrysler were up 3%.
According to Reuters, Honda posted the strongest sales increase among the major brands, driven by sharp gains for its redesigned Civic model line – Honda’s overall sales rose 8.7%, with the Civic accounting for almost one in four vehicles sold.
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By GlobalDataTotal US sales rose 1.2% in the month but were near the low end of analysts’ estimates, the report noted.
Reuters said Toyota’s US sales gain was only about a quarter of the average increase it has posted over the past half year as it surged to take market share from its ailing US rivals – February’s sales came ahead of the launch of three new models this month, including the subcompact Yaris – the hatchback version is new to the US – and the redesigned Camry.
The news agency said that Ford and Chrysler sales were boosted by strong fleet business, which is less profitable than retail. Fleet sales made up 41% of Ford’s February volume.
GM’s car sales were down 13%, but its truck sales, considered key for its bid to regain profitability, rose 5%, including sharp sales gains for the new Chevrolet Tahoe, the first of the GMT-900 series — a revamped line of full-size sport utility vehicles, Reuters said.
Analysts reportedly see sales of GM’s new large SUV line as key to its immediate turnaround prospects, since those vehicles are far more profitable than passenger cars. But most analysts told Reuters it was too early to tell how they will perform.
According to Reuters, GM said its Tahoe sales doubled from January to 6,391 units in February and it sold almost 3,000 of the new GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade combined – those SUVs are built on the same GMT-900 platform as the Tahoe.
Ford, which is also aiming to stop the erosion in its US market share, fell further behind with consumers. Car sales fell 1.4% while truck sales slipped 5.4% in February, Ford said, according to the report.
“With Ford and GM’s dependence on trucks, and a lack of significant meaningful products on the sedan side, they will continue to struggle,” Tynan told Reuters.
The news agency report said GM and Ford continued to lose U.S. market share in February, with GM’s share down to 23.6% from 24.4% a year earlier, and Ford’s share down to 19.3% from 20.2%, though DaimlerChrysler’s US market share rose to 16.5% from 15.9%.
Toyota’s share rose to 13.2% from 13% a year earlier, and Honda’s share rose to 8.5% from 7.8%.
Analysts have told Reuters they expect continued loss of market share at GM and Ford this year.
Incentive spend up in February
