Automakers welcomed a 28 percent drop in U.S. auto sales in June as a sign that the badly hit industry was stabilizing and expressed hope Wednesday that a government-funded "cash for clunkers" program would drive vehicle sales in July.This is the first time sales have fallen by less than 30 percent since the market crashed in September of 2008, according to Autodata.
However, June's seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 9.69 million vehicles was nonetheless weaker than the May rate of 9.91 million vehicles and sharply below the 13.69 million rate posted in June of 2008.
Total sales for the first half of the year were down 35.1 percent at 4.8 million vehicles, according to Autodata.
Ford was the clear winner, with market share rising to 17.2 percent from 14.0 percent in June 2008 in Ford's sixth straight month of share gains.
"We're making steady progress and are firmly focused on our plan to build a sustainable and exciting Ford," Jim Farley, Ford vice president for marketing and communications said in a statement.
Ford's sales were down just 11 percent in June at 155,195 vehicles while sales for the first half of the year were down 33 percent at 775,498 vehicles.
Ford has benefited from the uncertainty surrounding rivals General Motors and Chrysler, which requested billions of U.S. dollars in emergency government loans last fall and were eventually forced to seek bankruptcy protection.
Chrysler saw its sales fall 42 percent in June to 68,297 units.
Sales for the first six months of the year were down 46 percent at 471,197 vehicles and its share was down to 9.8 percent from 11.7 percent in the first half of 2008.
While Chrysler's overall share was down two points to 7.9 percent in June, it blamed much of the loss of a 95 percent reduction in low margin fleet sales resulting from a decision to shutter plants during bankruptcy.
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