Ford leads drop in US car sales

Ford led a slide in US car sales for most firms last month, after the recent financial turmoil spooked customers.

The Us group sold less than 190,000 vehicles, 21% lower than at the same time last year, and much worse than the 4% fall predicted by analysts.

Meanwhile, Japanese rival Toyota blamed a drop in truck sales for a 4% fall in overall vehicle sales.

But, General Motors (GM) bucked the trend with a 4% rise in sales - led by demand for its new line-up of vehicles.

Ford is struggling to hold on to a near 15% share of the US market amidst efforts to restructure to cut losses.

Chrysler, meanwhile, posted a 5% drop in sales for the month - down to 159,799 vehicles against 168,888 a year earlier.

Car sales fell 39% to 56,000 while truck and sports utility vehicle sales fell 9% to 134,000, Ford said.

Ford's figures were knocked by a 62% drop in sales to hire-car companies, though this was in line with Ford's plan to cut back deals that hurt its image and where profit margins are low.

Sales of Ford's best-selling F-series pick-up trucks fell more than 20%.

Buyer worries

Sales of trucks and 4x4 vehicles - so-called gas guzzlers - have been slipping as consumers turn to more efficient smaller cars and hybrids in an effort to cut fuel bills.

Analysts suggest US consumers have also been tightening their belts when it comes to big purchases in the wake of recent credit worries and trouble in the housing market.

Experts add that the fall in sales at the Japanese rival also signalled a bad month for automakers in the US as the group had managed to rack up gains in recent months.

Toyota's overall decline compared to last year was also led by its trucks, with sales down 5.7%. Car sales slipped 3.5%.

However, the figures suffered from being compared with the same month in 2006, which was the group's best September on record.

Meanwhile fellow Asian firms Nissan and Honda also managed to increase sales.

Honda said its new Accord saloon helped drive a 9.4% rise in sales while Nissan was buoyed by a 6.7% increase.