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The US light vehicle market was down in April, but much of the decline reflects two fewer sales days against last year (24 versus 26 in April 2006). Analysts are however cautioning that US consumers appear to be entering a subdued phase on the back of a slowing economy and a downcast housing market outlook.

Most manufacturers posted declines and even Toyota was off, posting its first monthly sales decline in nearly two years.

Ward’s put the US light vehicle market at 1.33m units in April, a decline of 7.8% on last year’s level. In the first four months of the year, light vehicle sales reached 5.2m units, 3% behind last year’s pace. That translated to a seasonally adjusted annual selling pace of around 16.25m vehicles, down from 16.7 in April last year.

GM and Ford both posted sizeable market declines, yet again, last month. Ford was off 14% (daily sales rate down 6.9% on last year) at 220,627 units while GM was down  9.5% (daily sales rate down 1.9%) to 307,754 units.

Much of Ford’s decline was in the car market and due to cancellation of the Taurus sedan, which ceased production late last year. The company maintained that it is selling well in the crossover segment of the market with its new Edge and Lincoln MKX. Ford Fusion sales, a strong positive earlier this year, dipped slightly in April.

Ford recently raised its Q2 production plan.

GM highlighted higher sales of its GMC Acadia and lower incentive spending in April. However, GM cut its second-quarter North American production forecast for the second time in as many months to 1.15m vehicles, a 15,000 vehicle decrease from its previous forecast and 7.4% less than last year’s second quarter.

Up-for-sale Chrysler posted an April sales gain of 1.6% to 193,104 units amid strong results for the redesigned four-door Jeep Wrangler, which went on sale last year, and an April incentive programme for its minivans.

Edmunds said Chrysler led all major manufacturers in incentives with an average of about US$4,000 per vehicle, and the company had not decreased its low margin sales to fleet buyers as much as Ford and GM have.

Some succour for Detroit lies in the fact that almost all brands experienced declines last month, including high-performing Asian brands. Toyota sales, which include the Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands, dropped 4.3% to 210,457 last month from 219,965 in April 2006, the company said. It was the first year-over-year monthly decline for Toyota since May of 2005. Honda

Analysts say that this month could see a more general return to incentives if underlying demand comes in weak.

Ford Motor Company and Linamar Corporation have reached a non-binding proposal outlining the framework for the sale of the Automotive Components Holdings (ACH) Power Transfer Unit (PTU) business at the Converca I Plant in Mexico.

This is the sixth agreement regarding an ACH business as ACH moves forward in determining the future for each of its operations. One business has been sold and other sales are pending.

The Converca I Plant in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, is a leading manufacturer of PTUs in the North American auto industry. Part of the transmission, a PTU transfers power between axles in all-wheel-drive vehicles.

This proposal marks the sixth such agreement reached in the last five months. ACH sold its fuel rail business and its El Jarudo subsidiary in early April. Sales negotiations are continuing regarding the climate control business and the Sheldon Road Plant near Plymouth, Mich.; the fascia and fuel_tank businesses and the Milan (Mich.) Plant; the ACH propshaft business, which currently is one of the products produced at a Monroe, Mich., facility; and the glass business and its plants in Nashville, Tenn., and Tulsa, Okla., and its Vidriocar subsidiary in Juarez, Mexico.

“This announcement is another solid sign of progress for our North American Way Forward plan,” said Mark Fields, Ford’s president of The Americas. “The successful approach Ford is taking with our component operations - including selling or idling our ACH facilities - will help us achieve our commitment to reduce overall operating costs by $5 billion by the end of 2008.”

“We aggressively are pursuing our strategy and we are very pleased with the response from the marketplace,” said Al Ver, ACH CEO and COO and Ford Motor Company vice president. “Recent improvement in the quality, delivery and cost-effectiveness of our operations has surprised some buyers.”

The Converca I Plant also produces propshafts, stabilizer bars and steering components. The production of stabilizer bars is scheduled to end late this year and ACH is considering options for the steering component and propshaft production.

Linamar Corporation is a diversified global manufacturing company with sales of $2.3 billion and about 11,000 employees and 36 manufacturing locations worldwide.

“The acquisition of ACH’s PTU manufacturing and product engineering capabilities, with leading-edge PTU technology, would significantly enhance the depth of our Transmission/Driveline Group,” said Linda Hasenfratz, Linamar’s CEO.

ACH is a temporary company established and managed by Ford to ensure the flow of quality components and systems while preparing the automotive component operations for sale or idling. Today, the $4 billion company and its 12 plants are supported by about 12,000 full-time employees, mostly leased from Visteon or Ford.

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