Facts from the 2006 American motor industry reveal a telling situation. Truck sales are in decline, but car sales are rising.

The American big three – Ford, GM, Chrysler – are still dominant, but their position is weakening in the face of an onslaught by Japanese and Korean carmakers. And that’s despite massive discounting and huge incentives offered last year.

Japanese models take four of the top five biggest selling car positions, while two companies – Suzuki and Toyota – are among the five fastest-rising carmakers by sales volume.

Until Ford and GM produce small and mid-sized cars to compete with the Accords and Corollas, they will struggle to hit profit.

  • Car and truck sales fell 2.6% last year to 16.5m
  • Dealers sold 8.1m cars, up 2.1%
  • Dealers sold 8.4m trucks, down 6.7%
  • The big three (Ford, GM, Chrysler) share of the market was 53.7%, down 3.2 points from 2005
  • Japanese share was up 2.6 points to 34.8%
  • The Korean share was up 0.2 points to 4.5%
  • 78% of vehicles sold were made in North America

    Winners and losers by sales volume
    On the up
    Hummer +26.1%
    Suzuki +23%
    Toyota +13.7%
    Scion +10.6%
    Mercedes-Benz +10.6%

    Losing pace
    Jaguar -32%
    Isuzu -29.3%
    GMC -15.1%
    Buick -14.7%
    Infiniti -11.2%

    Top selling cars
    Toyota Camry 448,445
    Honda Accord 354,441
    Honda Civic 316,638
    Chevy Impala 289,868
    Toyota Corolla 272,327