Big Three Automakers Post Narrower-Than-Expected Sales Declines

Ford (F Quote), General Motors (GM Quote) and DaimlerChrylser (DCX Quote) all reported March sales figures that fell substantially below the year-ago levels, but nonetheless still came in better than Wall Street expected.

For the 27-day selling period in March, Ford said total vehicle sales declined 13%, while GM's total sales fell 4.6%. Chrysler Group, the U.S. operations of DaimlerChrysler, said sales for the month dropped 10%.

Despite the decline, analyst Stephen Girsky of Morgan Stanley said the automakers performed better than expected, in large part because of consumer confidence. "Consumers are proving to be surprisingly resilient," Girsky said. He added that vehicle sales were helped by an extra Saturday in the March selling period, which inflated the figures slightly.

Ford sold 386,069 vehicles in March, down from the record of 441,701 in the same month last year. Total car sales for Ford fell 18.1% to 146,969 from 179,418. Ford sold 239,100 trucks in March, down 8.8% from last year's 262,283.

Ford will reduce its second-quarter production plan by 20,000 vehicles to 1.23 million cars and trucks because of the elimination of one production shift at its Michigan truck plant. The company said second-quarter North American production will be 89,000 units, or 7%, lower than a year ago.

GM sold 442,573 vehicles during the 27 selling days in March, down 4.6% from the year-ago period. GM sold 213,310 cars, 4% below March 2000's total of 222,766. Total truck sales fell 5% to 229,263 from 241,331 last year.

"Industry sales have held up better than expected despite a backdrop of economic uncertainty, and we think this trend will characterize all of 2001," GM said.

Chrysler sold 234,495 vehicles, down from 260,707 in the year-ago period. Car sales dropped 23% to 60,620 from 78,284, while truck sales fell 5% to 173,875 from 182,423.

At the close of New York Stock Exchange trading, Ford's shares fell $1.24, or 4.3%, to $27.37, while DaimlerChrysler gained 9 cents, or 0.2%, to $44.66. GM dropped $1.10, or 2.1%, to $50.93.