DETROIT Ford, GM, Chrysler report big sales drop from year ago

STAFF/WIRE REPORTS
DETROIT -- A year after incentives helped the auto industry to its best month ever for U.S. vehicle sales, General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group reported sales dropped dramatically last month compared with October 2001.
October sales of GM cars and trucks fell 32 percent. Sales of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brand cars and truck fell nearly 35 percent in October from record sales in the same month a year ago. Chrysler's sales were down nearly 31 percent compared with the same month a year ago.
"Last month's year-over-year sales comparison was not unexpected," Gary Dilts, Chrysler senior vice president for sales, said in a statement. "The industry will be well short of that [October 2001 sales rate] in October 2002."
Last year, the lure of no-interest financing helped industry sales show a 24-percent increase.
Cars made at GM's Lordstown Assembly Plant suffered poor sales last month.
GM sold 14,549 Chevrolet Cavaliers last month, a 53 percent drop from the 30,713 sold in October 2001. Through the first 10 months of the year, Cavalier sales were 207,388, up 1 percent from the same period last year.
Sales of the Pontiac Sunfire were 2,708 last month, down 65 percent from the 7,764 sold in October 2001. Year-to-date sales of the Sunfire were 57,291, which was down 11 percent.