DETROIT (AP) — The five top-selling automakers in the U.S. all reported sales declines last month as demand seems to be slowing after seven straight years of growth.
Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Nissan, General Motors and Toyota all reported weaker U.S. sales than a year ago.
Industry analysts expected April sales to be down anywhere from 2 percent to 4 percent, but still run at a healthy annual rate of around 17.1 million vehicles. Most major automakers report sales figures on Tuesday.
Kelley Blue Book says it looks like 2017 U.S. sales will fall short of last year’s record 17.5 million for the first annual sales drop since 2009.
Ford, which reported a 7.2 percent decline due largely to car demand that tumbled 21 percent, said that it’s still getting healthy prices for its vehicles as people load on more options. Vice President of Sales and Marketing Mark LaNeve told analysts and reporters that April’s decline is nothing to panic about.
“We have to let the year play out,” he said. “In a plateauing industry you’re going to have some months that are up and some that are down,” he said.