Ford sales fall nearly 13 pct in December, but still beats Toyota

DETROIT (AP) _ Ford held off Toyota as the No. 2 U.S. vehicle seller in December despite a nearly 13 percent sales drop compared with a year ago. <br/><br/>Ford Motor Co. sold a total of 231,900 light

Wednesday, January 3rd 2007, 1:52 pm

By: News On 6

DETROIT (AP) _ Ford held off Toyota as the No. 2 U.S. vehicle seller in December despite a nearly 13 percent sales drop compared with a year ago.

Ford Motor Co. sold a total of 231,900 light vehicles in December, with Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. coming in just below the Dearborn-based automaker at 228,322, the companies reported Wednesday.

Toyota's sales for the month rose more than 12 percent from last year, however.

Some analysts had expected Ford's sales would drop enough in December for Toyota to take the No. 2 spot. But even though its truck sales declined dramatically, car sales rose enough to keep Ford ahead of Toyota.

Toyota beat Ford in July and November, and some analysts have predicted that it will overtake Ford as the No. 2 seller of automobiles in the U.S. in 2007.

For the year, Ford's sales were down about 8 percent to 2,918,674, due largely to a decline in truck and sport utility vehicle sales and the end of production for the Taurus sedan.

Toyota reported its best year ever for 2006, with sales up 12.9 percent for the year at more than 2,542,524 vehicles.

DaimlerChrysler AG's U.S. sales slipped 1 percent last month due largely to a drop in Mercedes sales, the company said. Its Chrysler Group sales rose 1 percent, but Mercedes sales fell 10 percent versus December 2005.

For the full year, DaimlerChrysler's sales were down 5 percent to more than 2,390,585 million compared with 2005, with Chrysler off 7 percent while Mercedes was up 11 percent, the company reported.

Ford's decline for the month was led by the F-Series pickup, the top-selling vehicle in the U.S., which was down 21 percent from a strong December of 2005, the company said.

Ford sold 70,580 of the F-Series trucks last month compared with 89,491 in December 2005. For the year, the F-Series was down nearly 12 percent, ending December with sales of 796,039 compared with 901,463 in 2005.

The company has said that softness in housing construction and higher fuel prices were responsible for the sales decline.

Ford shares rose 5 cents to $7.56 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, while Toyota's U.S. shares rose 56 cents to $134.87 and DaimlerChrysler's U.S. shares rose 82 cents to $62.23.