HispanicBusiness

Automotive powerhouse Ford Motor Company today announced declines in sales in September 2008, the largest decrease this year. Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury dealers saw sales drop to 116,734 combined units sold in September, down 34.6 percent from the comparable period last year.

The economic turbulence coupled with prudent consumers and reduced loan availability has adversely affected the entire automobile industry.

"Consumers and businesses are in a very fragile place," acknowledged Jim Farley, Ford's vice-president of marketing and communications. "An already weak economy compounded by very tight credit conditions has created an atmosphere of caution."

The model that experienced the largest percentage decrease in volume sold for Ford was the Explorer. Sales dropped 67.3 percent, down to just 3,498 for September 2008 from 10,690 one year earlier.

Lincoln's crossover model, the MKX, saw sales decline to 1,753 in 2008 from 3,805 in 2007, a decrease of 53.9 percent.

Mercury recorded the largest single model percentage decline of the three manufacturers, with the Mountaineer remaining on the sales lots rather than zooming up mountainsides. Mountaineer sales plummeted by 70 percent to a mediocre 468 from 1,559 in September 2007.

Almost all model cars manufactured by Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury reported slumps in sales, with only the Focus and Crown Victoria from Ford showing increased volume sales from the previous year by 4.7 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively. The largest increase in sales for a single model car in September 2008 was Lincoln's Town Car. Dealers increased those sales production numbers to 1,031 from 611, or 68.7 percent.

September sales broken out by division were 102,685 Ford, 7,571 Lincoln, and 6,478 Mercury cars.

In comparison, two other major automotive manufacturers Toyota and GM recently reported negative sales, falling 32 percent and 16 percent, respectively in September 2008 versus September 2007.