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 U.S. auto sales were up 1 percent in October, according to Autodata Corp. But worries about home values and the credit crunch are taking their toll. Sales were down 3 percent in the first
10 months of the year.
"If interest rates continue to drop, the lower rates might give encouragement to people to buy cars, but that hasn't really hit yet," said Jesse Toprak, chief economist for the auto information site Edmunds.com. Toprak said sales likely won't pick up until December.
Chrysler LLC took one of the biggest hits, with sales down 9 percent compared with last October. The company said Thursday it will cut up to 12,000 jobs and eliminate shifts at five assembly plants to deal with overproduction and falling demand for vehicles.
Chrysler said its car sales were up 12 percent but were dragged down by truck sales, which fell 14 percent. Darryl Jackson, vice president of U.S. sales for Chrysler, said worries about falling home values were affecting consumers' buying habits in an already weak market.
"Today's company announcement on product changes reflects our customer-driven philosophy and current market conditions," Jackson said in a statement.
Ford Motor Co. also took a hit. Ford's U.S. sales fell 9.3 percent as the automaker continued to pull back on low-profit sales to rental car companies. Ford said its car sales dropped 26 percent from last October, largely because it no longer sells thousands of Ford Taurus sedans to rental agencies, while its truck sales were up 1.2 percent.
October was Ford's 12th straight month of sales declines.
"Almost all of this is due to a previously planned reduction in daily rental sales," George Pipas, Ford's top sales analyst, said in a conference call with reporters and analysts. "This summer has been tough. Beginning in May, the daily rental reductions on a year-over-year basis have had a big impact in total sales result."
Pipas said sales to individual consumers nearly matched levels of the same period a year ago.
Toyota continued its drive to overtake Ford as the No. 2 automaker by sales after GM. Toyota got a boost from a 7 percent increase in truck and sport utility vehicle sales. It was the best October ever for Toyota, helping to reverse the automaker's uncharacteristic downturn over the last few months.
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 Spokesman Xavier Dominicis said much has been made of the company's recent bad news, including the defection of top executives for Ford and Chrysler, criticism from environmental groups and a Consumer Reports survey that downgraded some Toyota vehicles.
There also have been challenges beyond Toyota's control. Toyota lost a few thousand October sales because of wildfires in Southern California, its home base and biggest market, company officials said.
GM's car sales were flat, but truck sales were up. Paul Ballew, GM's executive director of global market and industry analysis, said in a conference call that GM's 25 percent share of the U.S. market has been consistent for the past several months and is up a full share point from a year ago.
"We're feeling pretty good we're able to buck industry trends ... and post sales increases on the retail side as well as total sales," he said.
Nissan also bucked expectations, largely due to strong sales of the new Altima sedan, the Versa subcompact and the new Rogue crossover.
Honda Motor Co. said sales were up 4 percent. Honda's car sales were up 14 percent, thanks in part to the new Accord sedan, but truck sales were down 8 percent.
The Associated Press reports unadjusted figures, calculating the percentage change in the total number of vehicles sold in one month compared with the same month a year earlier. Some automakers report percentages adjusted for sales days. There were 26 sales days last month and 25 in October 2006.
Ford shares fell 37 cents, or 4.2 percent, to $8.50 Thursday. GM shares fell $1.94, or 5 percent, to $37.25.
[Associated Press; By DEE-ANN DURBIN]
AP Business Writer Jeff Karoub contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
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