DETROIT – It’s not just Detroit-based automakers taking it on the chin with soft auto and truck sales, even Toyota Motor Corp. reported sharply lower sales last month, as consumer confidence remains low.

GM’s sales fell 53 percent, Ford’s sales dropped 48 percent, while Toyota’s declined 40 percent. Ford, which has so far sidestepped the need for federal assistance, also said second-quarter North American production will be 38 percent below year-earlier levels, reflecting efforts to pare inventory and keep output in line with the sales slump, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company’s U.S. inventories are down 32 percent in light of the production cuts which have already taken place.

“The economic and competitive environment remains challenging,” Ford sales executive Ken Czubay said in prepared comments.

The news comes amid growing concern that the world’s auto makers won’t get the second-half sales bounce in the U.S. they had been banking on to slow their financial erosion. January sales hit a 27-year low, with February expected to be at similar levels and 2009 sales estimates continuing to be pared. The year is widely expected to result in the fewest U.S. auto sales in decades.

Ford said domestic light-vehicle sales fell to 99,050 from 192,178, the second time in many months the figure dropped below 100,000. The result was roughly in line with analysts’ expectations.

Ford, Lincoln and Mercury car sales dropped 48 percent. Sales of Ford’s F-series pickup fell 55 percent. Toyota sold 109,583 vehicles in the U.S. last month, with its passenger-car sales dropping 36 percent and its light-truck sales falling 44 percent. Sales of the Prius dropped to 7,232 from 10,893.

Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting at J.D. Power & Associates, expects February and March to be the year’s low point.

“But a high degree of uncertainty and risk remains for the second half of 2009 if the various factors that are currently impacting automotive sales do not improve or stabilize,” he said.

There were 24 selling days in February, one less than a year earlier

Ford and other auto makers are facing a crippling slump in demand in the U.S. and elsewhere, as a global economic slowdown spreads. The industry downturn has forced General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to seek U.S. government assistance. However, it has also thrown into reverse previous industry standouts, notably Toyota.

Volkswagen AG said Tuesday its U.S. sales in February fell 17 percent from a year earlier to 13,660 units. Nissan Motor Co. saw its North American vehicle sales drop 37 percent to 54,249. Daimler AG said its Mercedes-Benz car division posted a 21 percent decline to 15,614 units sold in the U.S. last month.

GM Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson said Tuesday that U.S. auto sales continued to be “very weak” in February.

Henderson, speaking on the sidelines of the Geneva auto show, said the annual rate of auto sales continued to sit in the nine million to 9.5 million range, while retail sales — excluding fleet deliveries — came in below 8.5 million. Henderson said that the retail-sales rate has been stable in recent months, but stopped short of declaring a bottom for the market.

Chrysler LLC President Jim Press also said the retail-sales rate appeared to be stabilizing at around 8.5 million vehicles.

Press, speaking to reporters at the Geneva show, said Chrysler has improved its market share and passed savings along to customers thanks to significant cost cuts that have been implemented in recent months.

Auto-sales tracker Edmunds.com said Chrysler was the most aggressive with marketing promotions last month, helping push industrywide incentives to their highest level in 25 years. Average incentives in the U.S. climbed 16 percent year-on-year in February to reach 20 percent of sticker price and were 8 percent higher than in January, according to Edmunds.com.

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