Ford falls from 2nd place in U.S. sales

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation and the world's third largest automaker based on worldwide vehicle sales. In 2006, Ford was the second-ranked automaker in the US with a 17.5% market share, behind General Motors (24.6%) but ahead of Toyota (15.4%) and Daimler AG (14.4%). Ford was also the seventh-ranked American-based company in the 2007 Fortune 500 list, based on global revenues of $160.1 billion. In 2006, Ford produced about 6.6 million automobiles, and employed about 283,000 employees at about 100 plants and facilities worldwide. In 2007, Ford had more quality awards from J.D Power than any other automaker.

Ford Motor had been in second place in the American car market since the Great Depression. But it lost its grip last year. How the Industry Fared Toyota beat Ford in 2007 in United States auto sales, putting it behind General Motors, industry statistics showed Thursday. Ford had held the No. 2 spot since 1931, according to the company’s historian.

Ford sales fell 12 percent last year, compared with 2006, while Toyota’s sales rose 2.7 percent. Its three brands Toyota, Lexus and Scion beat Ford’s three American brands by nearly 234,000 vehicles, according to figures from Auto data, Toyota’s victory was not a surprise, since Ford’s own projections at the start of the year conceded that Toyota would probably pass it. But Ford’s displacement was another psychological blow to the 104-year-old car company. It is struggling to keep its North American turnaround on track amid a housing slump, high gas prices and weak consumer confidence.

Moreover, the move is another milestone for Toyota, which surged past Chrysler into third place in 2006 and has reported record sales for 12 consecutive years. Whose sales fell 6 percent in 2007, remained ahead of Toyota by more than 1.1 million vehicles in the United States, but the two companies were locked in a close battle for No. 1 worldwide.

Chrysler reported a 3 percent decline for the full year, ending up in fourth place. But these days, executives in Detroit insist that they are no longer caught up in sales races, mostly because their companies’ future depends on bringing back profits.” The most important thing that we’re driving to is to return our business to profitability in 2009”.

First, though, the carmakers must get through 2008, which by most forecasts will be the industry’s worst year since at least 1998. Over all, light-vehicle sales are expected to fall well below 16 million. In 2007, sales declined 2.5 percent, to 16.15 million from 16.56 million. Detroit’s automakers accounted for just 51.1 percent of the total, the lowest share ever, according to Auto data.

Ford had the greatest decline. Its market share fell to 14.8 percent in 2007 from 16.4 a year earlier. Despite its recent push to sell more cars, they accounted for most of Ford’s decline. Some of that was intentional, as the company discontinued the old Taurus sedan and sold 142,000 fewer vehicles to rental-car companies in an effort to raise profit margins. It has since revived the Taurus name.

The United States market fell to 23.5 percent, from 24.3 percent in 2006. G.M. also cut sales to rental companies to the lowest level in nine years, the company said. Chrysler, whose share was flat at 12.9 percent, said it plans to make a big reduction in fleet sales this year, though it was not more specific.

All three Detroit companies managed to pare down their inventory of unsold vehicles significantly in 2007, by cutting production of slow-selling models and offering year-end deals. G.M. and Chrysler both said their year-end inventory was the lowest since 1994.

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