Big Three continue downward slide

Second quarter earnings announced recently by the U.S. Big Three automakers show a continued drop in market share and revenue. General Motors Corp. says more restructuring moves are on the way for Europe following a $154 million loss there during the second quarter. GM's global income totaled $610 million down from $1.75 billion for the second quarter a year-ago. North American income dropped to $521 million from $1.4 billion year-ago. Market share in the U.S. dipped from 27.8% to 27.3%. However, retail market share actually increased from 26.5% to 27.1%.

Ford Motor Co. posted a loss of $752 million during the second quarter, thanks to a $2.1 billion tab for the Firestone tire replacement program — nearly all of which was reflected in the quarterly results. The loss also included a $201 million charge from restructuring at Mazda Motor Corp. and changes to accounting methods. But revenues also fell 5% to $42.31 billion, as worldwide vehicle unit sales dropped 7% and market share vs. year-ago declined 1.7 points in North America.

DaimlerChrysler Corp. posted a net second-quarter profit of $453 million. But that's down 69% from last year's second-quarter total of $1.48 billion. Nevertheless, forecasts for this year's second-quarter performance called for a net profit of less than half of what DC reports.

DC's Smart division and Mercedes-Benz passenger cars, propelled by its C-Class model launches, recorded worldwide unit sales of 328,798 — 6% better than 2000's total of 309,725. But despite the popularity of Jeep's new Liberty, unit sales by DC's Chrysler group fell 4% compared to second-quarter 2000 — 820,982 vs. 851,148.