Ford's sales sink 15% as trucks, SUVs sag

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday its U.S. sales fell 15 percent in May as consumers continued to abandon pickups and sport utility vehicles in favor of smaller cars, an industry-wide shift that will force plant closures at General Motors Corp. and production cuts at Ford.

Ford said its car sales were up 3 percent compared with last May, and it sold more than 30,000 Ford Focus small cars for only the second time in the car's nine-year history. But pickup and SUV sales dropped 24 percent. No truck was immune: Ford's F-series trucks, the best-selling vehicles in the U.S. for 31 years, plummeted 31 percent.

The rapid decline in truck and SUV sales caused GM to announce Tuesday that it plans to close four truck and SUV plants by 2010, costing 10,000 jobs. Ford said last month it plans to slash North American production of trucks and SUVs for the rest of the year. Ford also is planning to lay off salaried workers. Ford promised more details on its restructuring plan in July.

Other automakers were scheduled to report May sales later Tuesday.

GM shares rose 35 cents, or 2 percent, to $17.79 in afternoon trading. Ford shares rose 3 cents to $6.67.

The Associated Press reports unadjusted figures, calculating the percentage change in the total number of vehicles sold in one month compared with the same month a year earlier. Some automakers report percentages adjusted for sales days. There were 27 sales days last month and 26 in May 2007.