Ford April U.S. sales drop 12 pct led by trucks

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday its U.S. vehicle sales for April dropped 12 percent, including an 18 percent decline in truck sales.

The automaker said overall sales declined to 200,727 vehicles from 228,623 a year earlier, including sales for its Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover brands.

Ford reports its sales results on an unadjusted basis.

Adjusting for the number of selling days, Ford results were down almost 19 percent. There were two additional sales days in April compared with the same month a year earlier.

Ford's sales decline was smaller than analysts had forecast.

Sales of Ford's top-selling F-Series pickup trucks were off 21 percent on an unadjusted basis. On the same basis, sales of its Explorer and Expedition SUVs were down 39 percent and 35 percent, respectively.

Ford, like its larger rival General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), has been focused on shifting toward passenger cars and away from trucks and SUVs where it has been strongest in recent years.

Both Detroit automakers have also moved away from low-margin sales to fleet operators such as car rental agencies as part of an effort to become profitable at lower sales volumes.

On that score, Ford said it was making some progress. Ford said its retail sales were down just 7 percent in April, compared with a decline of 20 percent for its fleet sales.