Record gas doesn't crimp Big 3 sales

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. car buyers apparently looked past record gas prices in May as General Motors and Chrysler Group both posted sales gains, while Ford Motor saw sales fall by less than forecasts.

But the car buyers didn't turn away from fuel economy altogether during the month.

GM saw improved sales of the Chevrolet Silverado in May lead it to much better than expected sales, even in the face of record gasoline prices.

Increased production allowed Toyota to nearly triple sales of its fuel-efficient hybrid Prius in May.

Autos

36 month new	5.91%
48 month new	5.98%
60 month new	6.03%
72 month new	3.78%
36 month used	6.31%

Find personalized rates:
 

Rates provided by Bankrate.com.

Toyota Motor (Charts) posted its best sales month ever, passing Ford to grab the No. 2 spot in U.S. sales. It was helped by a near tripling of sales of the Prius, the fuel-efficient gas-electric hybrid. Toyota has significantly increased production of that vehicle compared to a year earlier.

Japanese rivals Honda Motor (Charts) and Nissan (Charts) both also posted a sales gain, beating forecasts of declining sales, while Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia posted their own sales records.

Still the sales numbers at GM and Chrysler, and the better than expected results at Ford, led some analysts to say that Americans seemed willing to drive past stations displaying record gas prices to the dealership selling the pickup or SUV of their choice.

"It seems like the gas prices had very little impact on what people bought for the most part," said Jesse Toprak, senior analyst with Edmunds.com.

Gas prices rose through most of May, posting a series of 12 straight record highs from May 13 through May 24 in the daily survey of 85,000 stations conducted on behalf of AAA. The average gas price was above $3 for virtually the entire month, the longest stretch on record that the price has remained above that threshold.

GM (Charts, Fortune 500), the nation's No. 1 automaker, saw its car and light truck sales up 9.6 percent compared to a year earlier. While some of its large vehicles, such as GMC Yukon SUV, saw slightly lower sales, its new full-size pickups, such as the Silverado, weathered the gas price spike to post improved sales.

Sales declines continued at Ford (Charts, Fortune 500), falling 7 percent in May. The company was hurt by a more than 10 percent decline in sales of its best-selling pickup and SUV models. A 17 percent drop in sales of its car models was responsible for the decline, as light truck sales were essentially flat.

Overall Ford had been expected to post a 12 percent drop in sales, according to Edmunds.com.

More than 90 percent of the drop in Ford's car sales was due to the company discontinuing the Taurus model last fall. Many of those Taurus sales had been less-profitable fleet sales to businesses such as rental car companies. Ford said its overall retail sales to individual customers rose during the month.

The company recently gave the Taurus name to the sedan formerly known as the Five Hundred, but it sold only 125 of those cars with the new name.

It appeared that the problem with its Explorer SUV and its F-Series pickup, the nation's best selling vehicle, was more due to the relative age of those current models compared to their rivals' offerings.

"This is somewhat expected because of the new product elsewhere," said Edmunds' Toprak, speaking about the drop in F-Series sales. "But Ford can not afford to lose to too much share in that profitable segment."

A sign that it wasn't gas prices alone hitting Explorer or F-Series sales is the fact that the company's largest SUV, the Expedition, which gets only 15 miles to the gallon, saw its sales jump 27 percent from a year ago. The Expedition has less competition among rivals' offerings than the Explorer or F-Series.

What kept sales of Ford's light truck models flat compared to a year ago was the introduction of the Edge crossover, which had sales of 12,701, up 39 percent and above its previous best sales in March. The Ford Escape, a compact SUV that Ford also classifies as a crossover, saw its sales rise 13.5 percent. A crossover is a SUV-like vehicle with a more car-like ride.

DaimlerChrysler (Charts) reported a modest 4 percent gain in sales, even though its Chrysler Group unit is the automaker most heavily dependent on sales of light trucks such as minivans, pickups and SUVs.

DaimlerChrysler (Charts) said its Dodge Ram pickup saw improved sales, and its Jeep brand saw a 16 percent sales gain, fueled by its Compass and Patriot crossover SUVs. But the company was hit by a drop in sales for its minivans as well as its Durango SUV.

Overall Chrysler Group's sales were up 4 percent, as a gain in retail sales overcame a decline in fleet sales. But the comparison to a year-ago period, when the automaker was suffering from terrible sales, was relatively easy. The 4 percent gain was a bit less than the 7 percent forecast from Edmunds.

DaimlerChrysler's import luxury brand Mercedes-Benz posted a 1 percent sales increase. DaimlerChrysler recently agreed to sell the majority of Chrysler to a private equity firm, Cerberus Capital.