• by Karl Greenberg , July 2, 2008

June was the month the door officially slammed shut at the Truck and SUV Dance Club. Yes, folks, the party's over. At least until gasoline is replaced by Jello shots.

Trucks and SUVs, which not long ago were rocket fuel to U.S. sales, have become a ball and chain around the ankles of automakers like GM, Ford, and Toyota. June was a month in which the three automakers saw truck declines--big ones for Toyota and Ford.

General Motors may have staved off bigger losses with last month's 72-hour, 0% financing deal, aimed at reducing inventory of 2008 model vehicles. The company said the sale cut its inventory of full-size pickups and SUVs and threw the balance of the mix toward cars.

Both Honda and Kia, which have no traditional body-on-frame trucks and SUVs, posted record months as the companies picked up sales from people who were desperate for vehicles that run on fumes. Honda posted a 13.8% increase, a new record for the month, because of car sales--up 34.2%. Kia posted a 7.6% increase.

Ford and GM both saw overall declines in car and truck sales, and Toyota got more mileage from its cars. It may be because Toyota has the edge--no pun intended--on sedans, hybrids and consumer opinion that its vehicles are better at fuel-sipping than Detroit's (thank you, Prius).

Toyota sold 193,234 vehicles last month, an overall sales decline of 11.5% last month across its Scion, Lexus and Toyota divisions. But while the Toyota Division saw a 31% drop in truck sales, car sales were up 4.4% versus last year.

Ford truck sales took a similar hit--Ford SUV sales were down 40% last month, while truck sales dropped 31%--but the company got less help from cars. Despite a 9% increase in sales of its highly regarded 2009 Focus, Ford, Mercury and Lincoln car sales were off 12.1% last month versus the month last year. Ford sales were off 28% versus June last year. For the first half of the year, Ford Motor sales were 1.1 million, a 14% drop versus last year.

Sales of the critical F-150 pickup, which has long been the highest-selling vehicle in Ford's lineup, saw a 40.5% decline last month.

General Motors posted a 21.1% decrease in car sales and a 16.6% drop in truck sales. Overall, General Motors, which posted sales of 265,937 vehicles last month, reported an overall 18% decline. But when rental fleet volume is taken out of the equation, the company saw strong car sales for vehicles like Malibu, Cobalt and the new Vibe from Pontiac. The company's market share also grew 2 percentage points last month.