Last month will go down in the record books as the first month that Detroit’s Big 3 (Ford, GM and Chrysler) sold less vehicles than their foreign competitors. Sales from Ford, GM and Chrysler only made up 48.1 percent of all vehicles sales in the U.S. last month, while foreign competitors made up 51.9 percent.
In July 2006 the percentages were flipped with domestic automakers taking 52 percent of the market and foreign brands only achieving 48 percent.
Foreign automakers have sold more cars than the domestic automakers since November of 2000, but truck sales enabled the domestics to stay afloat. This year truck sales have been down due to the rising gas prices and the weak housing market.
Last month was a difficult month for almost every automaker including Toyota and Honda, although domestic automakers fared the worst. Domestic automakers claim that some of their sales declines are due to the fact that they are reducing the number of sales to rental fleets.
Full Story: Motor Authority
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