GM cedes U.S. market share to Ford, Toyota in Dec

General Motors Co. lost U.S. market share to Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. in December as the government-controlled automaker failed to take advantage of improving consumer demand.

GM light-vehicle sales fell 5.7 percent, worse than analysts' estimates, after it trimmed deliveries to fleet customers and worked to wind down half of its 8 domestic brands. Ford sales soared 33 percent last month, and Toyota jumped 32 percent, the automakers said yesterday.

"People are still concerned about GM's future and purchasing a GM car may seem like more risk than a consumer wants to take," said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. "This is a company that is still recovering from bankruptcy."

A 15 percent increase in industrywide sales in December capped automakers' first quarterly improvement since the last three months of 2006. The recession and Chapter 11 filings at the predecessors of Detroit-based GM and Chrysler dragged 2009 new-vehicle purchases to the lowest in almost three decades.

U.S. sales of cars and light trucks improved to 1.03 million, according to industry researcher Autodata Corp. That equated with a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 11.3 million vehicles, Autodata said. The year-earlier rate was 10.3 million.

Unloading Brands

GM said its December decline was driven chiefly by a 33 percent drop in deliveries to business customers such as rental- car companies and a 55 percent plunge for the Hummer, Pontiac, Saturn and Saab brands that are being shut or sold. GM said sales rose 2.2 percent for the Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick models that the biggest U.S. automaker is keeping.