GM and Ford to cut back output further

General Motors and Ford Motor are set to unveil further cuts in their North American vehicle output on Wednesday in conjunction with continued erosion in their sales and market share. Analysts' surveys point to a weakening in the North American car and light truck market in May, with sales falling to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16.5m-17m units, from 17.5m in April and 17.7m in May 2004. There were 24 selling days last month, versus 26 days a year ago. Steve Girsky of Morgan Stanley estimates that GM's sales dropped 4.4 per cent last month, compared with a year earlier, and that Ford's were down 3.9 per cent, while Asian and European brands notched up a small aggregate gain. Financial Times