Ford Sales Take Another Dive
Ford's
(F) - Get Report
U.S. auto sales for September dropped 21% from a year earlier, reflecting continued weakness in the market as Detroit's automakers lose market share to foreign-based competitors and consumers pull back on spending.
The No. 2 U.S. automaker said Tuesday that it sold 189,863 vehicles in September, compared with 238,848 in the same month last year.
Its sales to daily rental companies declined by 62%, reflecting an ongoing plan to cut back on the low-margin business, while sales to individual retail customers fell 15%.
Ford's car sales slid 39% to 56,267 vehicles. Truck sales dropped 9% to 133,596 trucks.
Despite the weakness, Ford pointed out strength in sales of its new crossover models, like the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX, which spiked 96% in September.
"We continue to be encouraged by customers' strong response to our new products, which we're launching with high quality," said Ford in a press release. "Demand for our new crossovers continues to grow and contributes to our efforts to stabilize U.S. retail market share."
Monthly results from
General Motors
(GM) - Get Report
and
Chrysler
, along with Asian-based automakers like
Toyota
(TM) - Get Report
and
Honda
(HMC) - Get Report
are expected later.
Shares of Ford recently were up 34 cents, or 4.1%, to $8.57.