General Motors (GM-NYSE) sales were down at -19.7%, but while it was worse than expected the shares are actually up marginally (very marginally).

Total January 2007 US auto sales out of GM were 247,464, down from 296,003 year over year; the beloved truck sales were 143,308 compared to 161,536 in 2006 for an 11% drop.

Edmunds.com predicted GM would sell 277,000 units in January 2007, down 17.2 percent compared to December 2006. GM’s market share was expected to be 24.1 percent of new vehicle sales in January 2007, down from 25.8 percent in January 2006 but up from 23.5 percent in December 2006.

So as far as the order of the new big 3 now: Ford has lost its #2 position to Toyota, but GM is still far in the lead for now.

Douglas A. McIntyre
February 1, 2007