Written By: Jimmy Sesto
In January Toyota was the largest automaker in America and February, Ford took over the ranks. March was GM's turn to take the title with Toyota finishing just 1700 cars behind for second and Ford just 3100 behind that for 3rd. The next and 4th in line company Honda didn't even come close to the top 3 with 75,000 cars behind Ford. Nissan and Chrysler round out the top 6. Toyota sales are up 41%, Ford 40% and GM up 24%, so it is clear the BIG THREE includes Toyota while dropping Chrysler from the group. Although Chrysler did drop 8% in sales and produces half the cars as the new BIG THREE but they are not as bad off as some might think. When Fiat purchased Chrysler last year first order of business was to trim the fat and by doing so they eliminated vehicles that were not money makers. Actually for the amount of vehicles that Chrysler dropped from their line, only dropping 8% in sales is pretty good. GM, Toyota and Ford all sold close to 200,000 vehicles each last month while turning a profit. Chrysler was desperately producing more cars than they could sell the last couple of years just to try to keep up. This past month they sold just over 90,000 vehicles which is less than before but being more effecient is putting Chrysler on track to be a profitable company. GM did get over 3000 vehicles counted from their brands that are soon being shut down such as Hummer, Saab, Pontiac and Saturn. Ford will soon have Volvo sold which accounted for over 5000 cars in March to Ford's over all numbers. So assuming everything else stayed the same then Toyota would be number 1 but it is still very close between all 3. Three months so far this year and the lead has been different every month which is good for everyone and nothing will stay the same.
