Business

DETROIT (AP) ― General Motors posted a 17.3 percent sales surge in October as truck sales revived from a nearly yearlong slump. Toyota's U.S. sales increased 9.2 percent and Ford reported an 8 percent rise, but DaimlerChrysler's sales slipped 1.6 percent.

General Motors Corp., the nation's largest auto manufacturer, said Wednesday that truck and sport utility vehicle sales rose 33.2 percent due in large part to lower gasoline prices.

"That's one reason our trucks, SUVs and crossovers are gaining share," Mark LaNeve, vice president of sales, service and marketing, said in a statement.

The rise in truck sales offset a 1.9 percent slump in GM's car sales.

GM outperformed Toyota Motor Corp., which said it sold 4.3 percent more Toyota and Lexus cars and 16.3 percent more trucks than in October of last year.

Toyota's performance, though, wasn't enough to unseat Ford Motor Co. as the second biggest seller of vehicles in the U.S. Ford sold a total of 214,806 vehicles in October, compared to Toyota's 189,011.

The sales improvements come on a favorable comparison with October 2005, when sales plummeted for nearly all manufacturers following an incentive-fueled summer frenzy.

Dearborn-based Ford said it sold 22.1 percent more cars last month than in the year-ago period. Even sales of trucks and sport utility vehicles inched up 0.76 percent. The figures include the Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Jaguar, Volvo and Land Rover brands.

Sales at DaimlerChrysler AG's U.S. arm Chrysler dropped 3.2 percent, partly offset by a 12.3 percent increase at Mercedes-Benz, which recorded a record October sales figure.

Nissan Motor Co. reported a 3.9 percent increase in October sales over the same month last year, with an 8.2 percent increase in truck sales and a 0.1 percent rise in car sales for its Nissan and Infiniti brands.

Nissan, though, also had a bad month in October 2005. The company sold 75,095 vehicles last month compared to 72,279 in October of last year.

Honda Motor Co.'s October sales were nearly flat in October with trucks up 11.2 percent and cars down 8.8 percent.

The latest sales results were being compared with October 2005, when sales plummeted for nearly all manufacturers following an incentive-fueled summer frenzy.

Paul Ballew, GM's chief of global market and industry analysis, said the decline in gas prices from a peak of $3 a gallon earlier this year helped the industry as a whole, and truck sales in particular.

"What we're seeing right now is not a movement back into utilities, but at $2.20 a gallon, some of the pressure which was really dampening demand in the utility space has been lessened," he said. "We are not seeing the mass migration out of utilities into cars or crossovers that we saw in the spring."

GM, Chrysler and Ford have struggled recently to match the offerings of Asian competitors as consumer tastes shift to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. The Big Three have long relied on high-margin pickups and SUVs for most of their sales and are now trying to cope with huge inventories by slashing production.

Ford said Monday that it expects to further cut production in the first six months of 2007 — by 8 percent to 12 percent from the same period this year as it works to bring manufacturing in line with lower demand for its products. For 2006, the company has said production would be down about 9 percent compared with 2005.

Ford said Wednesday that Ford, Lincoln and Mercury inventories were estimated at 622,000 at the end of October — 107,000 units lower than a year ago and 30,000 units lower than at the end of September. The company said it estimates that three-quarters of its inventory is new 2007 models.

"We are very serious about aligning inventories with demand," Al Giombetti, sales and marketing president for Ford and Lincoln Mercury, said in a statement. "Our dealers did an outstanding job with the 2006 model sell-down program, and we took a painful but necessary action to reduce fourth-quarter production."

Ford sales analyst George Pipas said the automaker's inventory split between new and old models may have brought down last month's sales, which were made up of 37 percent old models and 63 percent new ones. A more typical October ratio is 50-50, he said.

"In October, from a sales standpoint, it kind of hurts you if you have insufficient old models, but from a long-term perspective we're in a much stronger position," he said.

Pipas said the current inventory also reflects a truck-car mix that is more in line with demand.

General Motors shares fell 33 cents to $34.59 in late trading on the New York Stock Exchange, while Ford shares rose 23 cents, or 2.78 percent, to $8.51. DaimlerChrysler's U.S. shares rose 86 cents, or 1.51 percent, to $57.79.

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