Ford's June Sales Down

07/08/96

Ford reported a decline of 2.4% in U.S. sales of cars and light trucks over the moth of June, while the month's car and truck sales industry wide dropped one percent. Mothly car sales are compared to the same moth's figures from the previous year. Ford's drop in June sales was the largest decline of any of the big three automakers: GM's sales were off 1.4% and Chrysler's sales rose 0.7%. At least one industry analyst, Ronald Glantz from Dean Witter Reynolds, is saying that Ford's slow down prefigures what's in store for the whole industry into the next quarter.

Ford's breakdown on sales shows that truck sales rose 1.6%, while car sales dropped 5.8%. Within the decline of car sales was a 15% reduction in the deliveries of cars to fleets. Additionally, a year ago Taurus sales hit a record high of 43,097--showing up this year's sales (29,107) by almost 30%. In spite of that substantial difference, the Taurus still managed to keep its title as best selling car of the past six months, with 191,263 units sold. The Taurus' nearest competitor is the Honda Accord, which sold 185,034.

Ford's confidence in their ability to sell more cars hasn't diminished. When the company announced June sales, it also announced that it will increase its third quarter production by at least 2 percent, from 966,000 units to over 20,000.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel