Auto sales slip but GM bucks trend

By Kevin Krolicki

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted a 5-percent gain in U.S. sales for August on Tuesday, bucking a downtrend for the embattled industry linked to a weaker housing market and a shakeout in subprime lending.

Overall, U.S. auto sales slipped by just under 1 percent in August, a smaller decline than some analysts forecast as discount programs at GM and other major automakers helped spur sales in the face of slack demand.

GM took nearly 26 percent of the U.S. vehicle market in August, its highest market share of the year, as it stepped up discounting on its full-size pickup trucks, a key product segment for the No. 1 automaker.

Rivals Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (TM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Chrysler LLC all posted sales declines, as industrywide sales extended a slump that took hold in the second quarter.

Among the top six manufacturers, Honda Motor Co (7267.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Nissan Motor Co Ltd (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (NSANY.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted sales gains that were accompanied by higher incentives.

Toyota, which remains on track to overtake Ford as the No. 2 automaker in the United States this year, saw its U.S. August sales fall almost 3 percent.

That marked the second consecutive monthly sales drop for Toyota, the first such decline since early 2003 for the fast-growing Japanese automaker.

"Reduced credit tied to the subprime squeeze challenged consumer confidence this month," Jim Lentz, Toyota's U.S. sales chief, said in a statement.