Fire-sale prices don’t help Chrysler

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

U.S. sales at Ford and Chrysler last month offered sharply different views on the downtrodden U.S. market for cars and trucks, while General Motors Corp. held its own even though it entered bankruptcy protection.

Chrysler Group LLC, just weeks after exiting bankruptcy protection, reported a 42 percent drop in sales compared with June 2008, hurt by a big cut in fleet sales and declines in all its models except the Dodge Challenger muscle car. The company sold only 68,297 vehicles last month, despite fire-sale prices at the 789 dealerships whose franchise agreements were terminated by the company.

Sales of the three models made at Chrysler’s Belvidere assembly plant, the Dodge Caliber, Jeep Compass and Jeep Patriot, were down more than 44 percent from last June. But in a positive note, dealers sold 7,270 of the Belvidere trio, the highest total for any month this year.

Ford’s June sales showed signs of stabilization, as the healthiest Detroit automaker posted its smallest sales decline of the year at 10.7 percent. It also said it gained market share.

GM reported a 33.4 percent sales drop, slightly larger than the 30 percent drop it reported for May before it entered bankruptcy protection. GM plans to sell or close Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and Saab to focus on four core brands — Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick.

June sales from other automakers indicated that the industry downturn has begun leveling off.

Toyota’s U.S. sales fell 32 percent in June to 131,654 units, a smaller decline than in previous months for the Japanese automaker.

“We’re making steady progress,” Jim Farley, Ford Motor Co.’s group vice president of marketing, said in a statement. “We remain grounded, however, given challenging industry and economic conditions.”

Assistant Business Editor Alex Gary contributed to this report.

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