Ford Motor Company posted a sharp 34% drop in US sales in September as the nation's economic woes took a bite out of car sales.
Ford has already been suffering from a sharp drop in demand for its petrol guzzling trucks and sport utility vehicles amid high fuel prices. Now dealers are reportedly loosing customers unable to get loans because of a credit crunch.
Ford's September sales fell to 116,734 vehicles in September from 176,204 a year ago. Year-to-date sales are down 17.3% at 1.5 million vehicles.
Truck sales were down 39.5% for the month and 22.3% for the year to date while car sales were down 19% in September and 6.3% so far this year.
Ford is hoping to improve sales next month with the launch of the new F-150 pickup truck, which has been the nation's best selling truck for 31 years in a row.
Meanwhile, Toyota Motor reported a 29.5% drop in September US sales as the broad economic downturn took a massive bite out of car sales.
The Japanese car maker has seen its sales fall 10.4% in the first nine months of the year to 1.8 million vehicles while September sales fell to 144,260 from 213,042 vehicles a year ago.
Truck and sport utility vehicle sales have taken the biggest hit, falling by 35.4% in September to 55,918 vehicles and off by 17.8% for the year to date at 685,179 vehicles.
But Toyota's smaller, more fuel efficient cars also took a hit, falling 25.1% in September to 88,342 vehicles and 5.2% so far this year to 1.1 million. Even its popular gas-electric hybrid, the Prius, is waning as sales fell 9.3% in September to 10,873 and 4.8% to 130,561 for the year.
And General Motors said that US light vehicle sales fell 16% in September to 282,806 units, pressured by the sharp downturn in demand for light trucks.
Overall, GM sales of light trucks fell 19.3% in August, while sales of cars fell 9.8%.
During September, the car maker offered most of its vehicles at prices its employees pay in an effort to boost sales.
