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 Overall industry sales were down 3 percent in September, according to Autodata Corp. GM, Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. all saw increases thanks to hot-selling vehicles, while Toyota and Chrysler LLC were down.
The sales reports released Tuesday come as Ford and the UAW are trying to hammer out a new labor agreement. The UAW reached a tentative agreement with GM last week and is now negotiating with Ford and Chrysler to see if those companies will match GM's terms. The UAW hasn't yet said which automaker will go next or if it will negotiate with Ford and Chrysler simultaneously.
Some analysts have suggested Ford is the weakest of the three during this round of talks and may seek more concessions from the UAW. The company lost $12.6 billion last year, and September's numbers could add fuel to its arguments.
"Ford's continued weak sales should remain a source of concern for investors," auto analyst Brian Johnson of Lehman Brothers said in a recent research note.
Ford's shares rose 34 cents, or 4.1 percent, to $8.57 Tuesday as investors anticipated a new contract that could help Ford. GM shares rose $1, or 2.8 percent, to $37.05.
Ford's drop in September was largely due to a 62 percent reduction in sales to rental car companies. Ford sold 22,811 of its old Taurus sedans in September 2006, mostly to rental car agencies, but sold none of the old Tauruses last month.
Ford has a new Taurus, but the company has sold only 17,912 since the sedan went on sale this year. Erich Merkle, vice president of auto industry forecasting for consulting company IRN Inc. in Grand Rapids, said the numbers for the new Taurus are disappointing. Honda Motor Co. sold 35,031 Accord sedans in September alone.
"Nothing can replace the volume of the old Taurus," Merkle said. He said Ford's star performers, like the Ford Edge crossover, aren't doing well enough to offset losses in other areas.
Ford's losses are part of its long-term restructuring plan. George Pipas, Ford's top sales analyst, said the company is on track to cut sales to daily rental fleets by more than its original goal of 30 percent this year, or 135,000 vehicles. Ford, GM and Chrysler have been trying to cut back on rental sales, which can hurt brand image and profits.
But Ford's retail sales -- or sales excluding those to rental and other fleets
-- were down 15 percent, and that was bad news for the automaker, which hasn't seen sales rise since October 2006, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank.
Pipas said Ford is meeting its goal of stabilizing U.S. market share, which has held steady at around 13 percent for most of 2007. The company also saw some success with its Lincoln brand in September, which saw sales spike 33 percent thanks to the MKZ crossover.
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 GM's sales were flat compared with last September, despite a month of difficult labor negotiations and a two-day strike by the UAW. GM produced 30,000 fewer vehicles because of the strike, but the walkout had no impact on sales and GM's production schedule is unchanged, said GM's top sales analyst, Paul Ballew.
GM's car sales were down 4 percent while truck sales were up 4 percent on the strength of the Chevrolet Silverado and other new pickups. GM also got a boost from new crossovers like the Buick Enclave and the new Cadillac CTS sedan, which posted a 73 percent sales increase for the month.
Chrysler's car sales shot up 18 percent with the introduction of the newly redesigned Sebring, but its truck sales were down 11 percent despite the heaviest incentive spending on pickups in the industry, according to the auto research site Edmunds.com.
Toyota's overall decline compared with September of last year was led by its trucks, which were off 6 percent. Car sales were down 4 percent, the company reported, but it said the figures were compared with a best-ever September 2006.
Honda's U.S. sales rose more than 9 percent, with car sales up 7 percent and truck sales up 13 percent. The new Accord sedan and CR-V crossover vehicle helped fuel the increase, the company said.
Nissan's sales gained 7 percent on the strength of its redesigned Altima sedan as well as the new Rogue crossover. Nissan's car sales were up 17 percent, while truck sales fell 6 percent.
Paul Taylor, chief economist with the National Automobile Dealers Association, said Ford, GM and Chrysler deserve credit for holding the line on fleet sales. Chrysler said its fleet sales were down 20 percent in September, while GM's were down 7 percent. Taylor said the volume won't be missed much, since fleet sales don't help manufacturers or dealers because of their low margins.
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 25 sales days last month and 26 in September 2006.
[Associated Press; by Dee-Ann
Durbin]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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