Ford sales drop 48 percent in month

Recession-plagued consumers stayed away from U.S. car dealerships again in February and Ford Motor Company reported a 48 percent downturn in sales.

Toyota Motor Corp. also said sales plummeted, dropping 40 percent in the month, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The economic and competitive environment remains challenging, Ken Czubay, a Ford sales executive said in a statement.

The figures are a continuation of dismal sales numbers for carmakers. January sales were a 27-year low for the industry and, while February sales were expected to be low, worries about the second half of the year are mounting.

Ford reported sales fell to 99,050 light vehicles in the month. Toyota said it sold 109,583 vehicles in the United States as passenger-car sales fell 36 percent and light-truck sales plunged 44 percent.

Ford has predicted sales will fall 38 percent in the second quarter compared to the same period of 2008.

Several industry analysts have said car sales are at or near bottom. One of those, Jeff Schuster, the executive director of global forecasting at J.D. Power & Associates, said, a high degree of uncertainty and risk remains for the second half of 2009 if the various factors that are currently impacting automotive sales do not improve or stabilize.