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Toyota Motor (TM, news, msgs) has overtaken Ford Motor (F, news, msgs) as the No. 2 automaker in the United States and is closing in on the title of top-selling U.S. brand.
It is the first time since 1931 that Ford has not been the No. 2 automaker in the United States.
The Japanese company reported that it sold 2.62 million cars and light trucks in 2007, up 3% from 2006 and just ahead of Ford's 2.57 million sales. Ford sales were down 12% for the year.
General Motors (GM, news, msgs) is still the top U.S. automaker. It sold 3.82 million units in 2007, down 6% from a year ago. Many analysts believe -- and Toyota has been promising -- that it will overtake GM in 2008.
The Toyota brand of cars came close to overtaking GM's Chevrolet division as the top U.S. brand, according to The Associated Press. Toyota was claiming the top spot because it included its Scion line of vehicles in its totals.
But as Tom Libby, an analyst for J.D. Power and Associates, told Bloomberg News on Wednesday, "I don't think for a second that Scion is a Toyota vehicle; it's clearly its own brand. You might as well count Pontiac vehicles as Chevrolet sales if you think Scion's a Toyota."
Toyota shares were up slightly in New York to $106.90. Ford was down 2.3% to $6.45. GM fell 2% to $23.92.
Chrysler and Honda see gains
Privately held Chrysler, which sells the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands, bucked industry trends by posting a 2% sales gain in December to 143,428 vehicles. The primary reason was a jump in sales of newly redesigned Caravan and Town & Country minivans, up 42% from year-ago levels.But Chrysler, which was purchased in August from the former DaimlerChrysler by Cerberus Capital Management, saw full-year sales fall 3%. A 6% decline in sales of light truck models was balanced by a 6% gain in sales of cars, which represent a minority of Chrysler overall sales.
Japanese automaker Honda Motor (HMC, news, msgs) posted the narrowest of sales gains in the month, with an increase of 14 vehicles over year-ago sales to 131,792. But it was enough to give the automaker a 2.5% gain for the year to 1.6 million, good enough for the No. 5 spot behind Chrysler.
Nissan, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen and Kia reported December sales declines.
- Check Autodata's summary of the sales reports.
Ford said U.S. vehicle sales fell in 2007 despite strong demand for its crossover Ford Edge and redesigned Ford Focus.
The automaker attributed much of the decline to discontinued products, and it said its continued withdrawal from sales to daily rental fleets also contributed to the drop. Retail sales were down 10% for the year, and fleet sales were off 18%, Ford said, reflecting a 32% decline in sales to rental car companies.
Sales of the Ford Edge in its first full year were 130,125, topping expectations by 30%.
Automakers expect that 2008 will be a bad year to sell cars and trucks in the United States, The New York Times reported earlier this month.
A tough year ahead?
Most forecasts now come in ranging from 15.5 million to 15.9 million vehicles, an estimate that would mark the worst year for sales in the United States since at least 1998.Foreign carmakers, including Toyota and Honda, expect that their U.S. sales will increase in the coming year in spite of the housing slump, high gas prices and lackluster consumer confidence.
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