Cobalt December sales beat past years’

Toyota overtook Ford as the No. 2 automaker by U.S. sales.

STAFF/WIRE REPORTS

The Chevrolet Cobalt posted its best December yet for sales.

General Motors Corp. said Thursday that it sold 17,591 of the Lordstown-built cars last month. The Cobalt debuted in 2004, and its previous best December was in 2005, when 16,828 were sold.

Last month’s total was a 29 percent improvement over sales in December 2006 and was the fifth-straight month that Cobalt sales topped results from the same month last year.

For all of 2007, sales were down, however. GM sold 200,620 Cobalts last year, compared with 211,449 in 2006.

GM said earlier this year that sales of the Cobalt and some other models were lower because it was cutting back on the number of cars being sold to rental car companies.

Sales also were up last month for the other car built at GM’s Lordstown complex, the Pontiac G5, which is a sister car of the Cobalt. GM sold 2,509 G5s last month, compared with 1,600 in December 2006.

GM sold 27,928 G5s last year. Production of the model started in July 2006.

Industrywide, Toyota Motor Corp. overtook Ford Motor Co. to become the No. 2 automaker by U.S. sales in 2007, using new products and relentless strategy to break Ford’s 76-year lock on the position.

Toyota sold 2.62 million cars and trucks in 2007, which amounted to 48,226 more than Ford. Toyota’s sales were up 3 percent for the year, buoyed by new products such as the Toyota Tundra pickup, which saw sales jump 57 percent. Ford’s sales fell 12 percent to 2.572 million vehicles.

GM remained the U.S. sales leader, selling 3.82 million vehicles in 2007. But that was down 6 percent from the previous year as customers turned away from some large sedans and sport utility vehicles and GM cut low-profit sales to employees and rental car agencies. GM’s car sales fell 8 percent for the year while truck sales were down 4 percent.

Overall, the year was expected to be the worst for the auto industry since 1998 as consumers fretted over high gas prices, falling home prices and the economy.

December also was a tough month for automakers despite a slew of holiday discounts. Toyota’s sales slipped 2 percent for the month, while GM’s sales were down 4 percent and Ford’s fell 9 percent. Honda Motor Co.’s December sales were flat, with a 10 percent increase in car sales canceled out by a 10 percent decline in truck sales.

“This was definitely a challenging year to be in the car business, and 2008 isn’t likely to be a piece of cake,” Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda, said in a statement.

Honda’s full-year sales were up 2.5 percent.

Ford’s car sales plummeted 24 percent for all of 2007 as some models such as the Ford Mustang aged and a new Ford Taurus sedan was unable to match the volumes of the older version. Ford also cut rental-car sales by 32 percent over the year. Truck sales were down 5 percent.

Ford corporate historian Bob Kreipke said it was the first time since 1931 that Ford wasn’t second behind GM in U.S. sales.

Jim Farley, who recently became Ford’s global marketing chief after a career at Toyota, said the new numbers won’t change Ford’s recovery plan.

“In fact, it actually accelerates the way we’re running the business,” Farley told The Associated Press. “It accentuates the difference between how we’re running the business and how our competitors are running the business. It requires us to stick to the plan, no doubt, but it also requires us to really accelerate the development of new products.”

Farley pointed out that Ford had some hits in 2007, particularly its Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX crossover vehicles. Ford crossovers grew 62 percent over the year, far outpacing the industrywide average of 17 percent, the company said.