GM US sales beat Toyota in June

• General Motors suffered a big fall in US sales in June at 262,000 units ( - 18.5%)
• But its figures were still better-than-expected, but worst June in 17 years… may be a bleak period ahead in near-future
• For the same reason perhaps, the share prices, which had fallen to a 54-year low on Monday, recovered from early falls to close up 2.2% in New York
• Bonus it beat Toyota
• Toyota sold 69,000 less than GM ( drop by 21 %, with its truck sales in particular falling by 38.9%)
• Ford sales fell by 27.9 %

The shrinking market continued its shift toward more fuel-efficient models. Some automakers were caught with too few of the smaller cars.That includes Toyota, which didn't have enough of its fuel-efficient Prius, Corolla or Yaris cars at dealerships to keep up with demand. Prius sales were hurt by a battery shortage, while sales of the Corolla and Yaris suffered because of plant capacity.
When consumer tastes change as quickly they have this year, it's tough for automakers to react in a matter of months. Additional workers have to be brought in to factories and trained to build different cars
Only Honda, whose lineup is tilted toward smaller and more fuel-efficient cars, reported a sales increase for June - slightly over 1 percent. Honda car sales were up nearly 20 percent, truck sales down 24 percent.
Elsewhere, the picture was far worse. Nissan Motor Co. reported sales off nearly 18 percent. Sales at Ford, which still relies on trucks and SUVs, plunged almost 28 percent. And Chrysler LLC took a huge hit - down nearly 36 percent.