Ford auto sales best in 10 months

U.S. automaker's vehicle sales in May get to 24%, but retreat narrows as it sold more vehicles than it has in the last 10 months. Ford Motor Co. reported its U.S. auto sales fell less than expected in May marking its best performance since July 2008. Ford said total domestic vehicle sales fell 24.3% compared to a year earlier. Though Ford's car models fell by 25.5%, sales of its mid-sized Fusion model were actually up 9.4% last month. Fusion became the only model that rose from last year. Crossover SUV sales dropped 9%, and traditional SUV sales tanked 37.4%. Overall, Ford truck sales fell 23.4%. Shares of Ford rose 1% in early afternoon trading. Ford's results came as rivals Chrysler and General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. When GM entered bankruptcy on Monday, Ford was left as the lone "Big Three" company that has not requested federal bailout funds or gone bankrupt. As its domestic rivals flailed, Ford continued to build on its growing market share. Ford's domestic brands outpaced Toyota's for the first time since April 2007, making it the second-largest automaker in terms of monthly U.S. sales behind GM. Ford supposed that its May sales helped it gain the highest market share that the company has enjoyed in three years. Ken Czubay, Ford's vice president of sales, said: "New products account for 50% of our sales, and demand for these products is driving our market share gains." Analysts predict the combined monthly U.S. market share for Chrysler, Ford and General Motors' domestic vehicles will be 43.9% in May 2009, down from 45.3% a year ago and 46.6% in April.