Domestic New Car Sales Drop 9.1% : February Slump Occurs Despite 6.7% Rise Late in Month

DETROIT — The nation’s auto makers Wednesday reported a 9.1% drop in new car sales for February, despite a 6.7% gain during the final seven days of the month as some car makers offered a smorgasbord of buyer incentives.

The eight companies, General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Corp., Honda Motor Corp., American Motors Corp., Volkswagen of America, Nissan Motor Manufacturing USA and Toyota Motor Sales USA, reported combined sales of 556,953 cars in the United States during February.

This compares to 612,632 units sold during the same period a year earlier when Toyota was not producing cars domestically.

The daily selling rate dipped to 23,206 cars from 25,526. There were 24 selling days this year, the same as last year.

The annual rate for the industry during the month was 7.4 million cars, compared to 8.1 million last year. So far in 1987, the firms have sold 984,631 cars, down 21.1% from the almost 1.25 million units sold in the comparable 1986 period.

Light U.S. truck sales in February totaled 291,910 units, up 7.6% from a year ago. All U.S. car makers except Honda, VW and Toyota produce trucks domestically.

For the month, GM’s car sales declined 20.9%, while Ford posted a 6.9% gain and Chrysler a 2.3% decline.

Among the smaller companies, AMC’s sales slid 61.5%. Sales of Honda’s U.S.-built models rose 90.2% because of more model types being built domestically. Volkswagen’s domestic-made model sales declined 35.1%. Nissan posted a 5.3% gain from year-ago levels.

Toyota’s sales were 2,098 units, with no year-ago comparison available because of its recent production start-up. Toyota began producing its sporty FX-16 subcompact at its joint venture plant with GM in Fremont, Calif., in late 1986.

GM’s market share this year has slipped to 51.8% from 58.3% a year ago. Ford’s share rose to 27%

AUTO SALES

% February 1987 1986 change GM 277,956 351,587 -20.9 Ford 157,031 146,898 +6.9 Chrysler 78,508 80,322 -2.3 Honda U.S. 27,851 14,637 +90.3 AMC* 2,501 6,472 -61.4 VW U.S.* 3,808 5,873 -35.2 Nissan U.S. 7,200 6,873 +5.2 Toyota U.S. 2,098 -- -- DOMESTIC 556,953 612,632 -9.1 Toyota Imp. 34,713 40,012 -13.2 Nissan Imp. 41,661 30,711 +35.7 Honda Imp. 28,853 33,806 -14.7 Mazda 10,049 19,448 -48.3 Subaru 12,377 14,891 -17.1 VW Imp. 8,349 10,268 -18.7 Volvo 8,292 8,772 -5.5 Hyundai 18,656 -- --- Others* 56,380 59,982 -6.0 IMPORTS* 219,300 218,478 +0.4 Total U.S. 776,253 831,110 -6.6

*Estimate