Vehicle Sales

GM, Chrysler sales fell in MayGeneral Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. said yesterday that their U.S. vehicle sales slumped in May from a year ago, while buyers snapped up Japan's Lexus and Infiniti luxury models as trade sanctions loomed.Industry leader GM's total U.S. vehicle sales in May declined 5.4 percent, measured by sales per day. Chrysler, the third-largest U.S. automaker, said its sales fell 3.0 percent. Ford Motor Co. is expected to report results next week.Toyota Motor Corp., which makes the Lexus; Nissan Motor Co., which produces the Infiniti; and Mercedes-Benz all reported U.S. sales gains despite the strength of the Japanese and German currencies against the dollar.

DETROIT - General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler division said yesterday that U.S. vehicle sales rose last month as zero percent loans helped the industry record its second-best sales year. Sales increased 7.2 percent over December 2000 at General Motors and 2 percent at Ford, including imports and big trucks. Chrysler gained 6.2 percent, beating analyst forecasts. Honda Motor Co.'s U.S. sales rose 7.8 percent, while one analyst predicted a 2.9 percent increase for Toyota Motor Corp.

The major automobile makers posted further sales declines in April on Friday, punctuating a brutal week for an industry that saw one of its largest companies plunge into bankruptcy and signs that a similar fate awaits its biggest U.S. player. Chrysler, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday and signed a deal to hand over its management to Fiat, reported Friday that its U.S. vehicle sales plunged 48 percent in April from a year ago. The Auburn Hills, Mich., company sold 76,682 cars, truck and SUVs during the period, a number depressed by a large reduction in fleet sales to rental car companies and government agencies as Chrysler attempts to focus on the consumer market.

The traditional spring new-car buying spree, which has been absent in Maryland in recent years, showed signs of returning last month as dealers posted a 14.5 percent gain in vehicle sales."

General Motors Corp. announced yesterday that it will extend its business-stimulating zero-percent financing plan by another 18 days. GM's "Keep America Rolling" program was scheduled to end Oct. 31, but will run until Nov. 18. "This highly successful marketing program is clearly achieving its objectives to stimulate vehicle sales and to help stimulate economic activity during this critical time," William J. Lovejoy, GM group vice president for vehicle...

DETROIT -- With most global automakers coming off a difficult year, Toyota Motor Corp. reported record annual profit yesterday and forecast a slower - but still growing - year to come. Toyota's net income rose 20 percent to 1.64 trillion yen, or $14 billion, for the most recent fiscal year, which ended March 31. It projected profits will rise again in the current year to 1.65 trillion yen, or $14.3 billion, though an executive suggested that management's guidance is intended as the low end of likely results.

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. said yesterday that its U.S. vehicle sales fell 13 percent in June, continuing a pattern of lower demand industrywide because of strikes, competition from used-car sales, and tapped-out consumers.GM's decline from the same month a year ago was greater than expected. It follows Chrysler Corp.'s report earlier in the week that its sales fell 4 percent and Toyota Motor Corp.'s 2.3 percent decline.Industry sales this year to date are 1.9 percent below 1996 levels, despite larger incentives.

DEARBORN, Mich. -- Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. vehicle sales fell 2.2 percent in November, slightly better than analysts expected.Car sales slid 12 percent, wiping out the company's 5.7 percent gain in sales of pickups, minivans and sport utility vehicles.November is traditionally a lackluster month for auto sales because of bad weather and holiday-focused shoppers, but this year was worse than last. U.S. car and truck sales slipped 1.6 percent, compared with November 1995.Ford is cutting prices with big rebates to try to maintain its sales momentum, offering incentives across a broad range of its cars and giving employees leases on the Taurus to help keep it the best-selling car in the U.S. market.

DETROIT -- AutoNation Inc., the world's largest automotive retailer, introduced a new online buying service yesterday to capture part of a market forecast to explode from 15,000 vehicle sales this year to 500,000 in 2003.AutoNationDirect.com is now available in the Tampa, Fla., area. Customers can reserve a vehicle for a test drive, withdraw money from their bank for a deposit and complete loan applications online. A nearby dealer would then deliver the vehicle to the customer's home.AutoNation expects to generate $750 million in online sales this year, then double that in each of the next two years, said Steven Berrard, AutoNation's co-chief executive officer with Wayne Huizenga.

For the nation as a whole, just about everyone agrees: New car sales are expected to be flat this year. In Maryland, though, the outlook is not so clear.State dealers could follow the national pattern or break out of their long slump to post a healthy gain in vehicle sales."I'm optimistic about 1997," said Jacob J. Cohen, a partner and head of the automotive division at Walpert, Smullian & Blumenthal, a Towson accounting and management consulting company."I think sales will be up, along with the bottom-line profits of most dealers," said Cohen, whose company represents about a third of the state's 350 new car dealers.