Ford Tops List of Big Six Auto Companies in February Sales

A number of big hits have struck the U.S. and Japanese auto industries since 2008. The biggest hit of all was the economic collapse of 2008. Reacting to the economic collapse, the President decided to buy controlling interests in two American car companies-General Motors and Chrysler. The third American auto maker, Ford Motor Company, mortgaged its assets early on rather than go to the government with its hand out, making it the favorite of atavistic Americans who think private industry should remain private industry.

So how are the U.S. car companies faring more than a year after the collapse?

Of the Big Six car companies, the February sales figures show that Ford sold the most cars. The conclusions to be drawn from the February figures may vary but car buyers have responded to Ford in a big way. Not impressed? Consider that this is the first time in 50 years (excepting a year when GM was on strike) that Ford surpassed GM in the number of vehicles sold.

Ford's move into first place comes at a time when Toyota is vastly troubled by high profile recalls of its vehicles for "sudden acceleration" and other problems. In the wake of the anti-Toyota publicity blitz, General Motors also announced a large recall for failures of power steering units in some of its models. More than a quarter million of GM cars are affected by the GM recall.

The February U.S. sales rankings show Ford coming in first with 142,000 vehicles and GM coming in second with about 500 vehicles less. In spite of the recall backlash, Toyota buyers have kept Toyota in 3^rd place with about 100,000 in U.S. sales. Chrysler (84,449 vehicles) and Honda (80,671) are close with 4th and 5th place with 6^th place Nissan selling about 70,000 units.

A key point in viewing auto company sales is that Toyota's figures represent an 8.7 percent drop over last years figures. Nissan significantly increased its sales by an impressive 29.4 percent while Ford showed an even more impressive gain of 43.4 percent over last year. Ford now leads GM in U.S. market share by a slight margin, a game-changing in event for what was once America's smallest car company.

General Motors, the world's former largest auto company, seems not to have benefited from U.S. government ownership. After a government funded bankruptcy and a reorganization of its top management, General Motors is now in the midst of another shakeup. The Obama auto czar would deny that it pressured former GM CEO Rick Waggoner to resign but most auto analysts see the hand of government pulling strings at GM and Chrysler.

CEO Rick Waggoner was followed by top CEO Fritz Henderson who was removed to make room for new and current GM CEO Ed Whiteacre Jr. Indicative of the GM upheaval is the fact that Whiteacre is in the midst of his second reshuffling of management executives in three months.

For American workers at GM, it is important that the auto maker returns to profitability if not first place prominence. If the current sales figures are any indication, that would be more likely if the company had been allowed to swim through the treacherous waters of the American economy without the tug of government control and taxpayer money to weigh it down.

Disclaimer: I do not currently own Ford stock shares, having sold all Ford shares at the end of 2009.