DETROIT, United States (AFP) - Year-end incentives aimed at clearing car dealers' lots for 2005 models boosted September sales for Chrysler and General Motors but Ford sales lagged from the same month last year.
GM said new vehicle sales in September surged about 20 percent year-over-year, with both passenger car and truck sales posting gains.
The world's number-one automaker said in a statement it sold 458,799 new cars and trucks in September.
Passenger car sales rose three percent to 171,670 units while truck sales, including pick-ups, sport-utility vehicles and minivans, rose 32.5 percent to 287,129 units last month.
The Chrysler Group reported a 10-percent rise, boosted by sales of its Jeep and Dodge-branded models.
The automaker, a division of the DaimlerChrysler AG group, said it sold a total of 168,744 units in September.
Ford said new vehicle sales -- mostly passenger cars -- dropped four percent, but that its F-Series truck set a new September record with sales of 99,720 units, up 22 percent from last year's record sales.
Overall, the number-two US automaker said it sold 282,656 new cars and trucks in September, down from the 294,991 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago.
Passenger car sales slipped 19 percent to 70,683, while truck sales, including sport-utility vehicles and mini-vans, rose two percent to 211,973 units, Ford said.
The company markets Mercury, Lincoln, Jaguar, Volvo and Land Rover.
Analysts had predicted September sales to come in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 16.8 million to 17 million. Early indications, bolstered by Ford and General Motors results, show that the final overall sales number will top original forecasts.
"Chrysler was essentially in line with our projection, but GM had a huge month," said Steve Stanley, chief economist at Greenwich Capital Markets.
"Cars were modestly ahead of our estimate, but trucks were 50,000 above our projection."
Stanley added that GM's results, along with Ford's strong truck sales numbers, should bring overall auto sales to 17.5 million, well above what Wall Street had predicted.
August sales came in at about 17 million. Helping to spur demand last week, General Motors offered a three-day, end-of-month, zero-percent financing deal to clear out 2004 models, and Ford quickly followed with a similar five-day special.
George Pipas, Ford's US sales analysis manager, said in a conference call that the zero-percent financing announcement "clearly had a positive effect on sales this month."
GM turned in mostly higher than expected results thanks in large part to steep discounting offers.
The company posted sales of 458,799 vehicles, up 19.9 percent from 367,496 vehicles sold a year ago.