The data likely will press U.S. car companies, particularly General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), to further question whether they want to keep a presence in Europe, at least at current levels. The trend also may force them to find joint venture partners to share manufacturing costs, although unions and national governments may resists this as a means to save jobs.

The figures should also raise concern about the strength of Europe’s largest nation by GDP — Germany.

The European Auto Manufacturers’ Association reported on new passenger car registrations:

In May, demand for new passenger cars declined by 5.9% in the EU, reaching 1,042,742 units. In absolute figures, this is the lowest level recorded for a month of May since 1993 when new registrations stood below one million. Five months into the year, a total of 5,070,840 new cars were registered in the region, or 6.8% less than in the first five months of 2012.

In May, most major markets faced a downturn ranging from -2.6% in Spain to -8.0% in Italy, -9.9% in Germany and -10.4% in France. The UK was the only country to post growth (+11.0%). Overall, the EU registered 1,042,742 new cars, or 5.9% less than in the same period last year.

From January to May, Spain and Germany saw their market shrink by 5.8% and 8.8% respectively, while Italy (-11.3%) and France (-11.9%) recorded a double-digit decline. The UK continued its positive trend, expanding by 9.3%. In total, the 5,070,840 new cars registered over five months represented a 6.8% decrease in demand compared to the same period last year.

The figures for GM were brutal. Sales dropped 11.3% to 87,943 , and its market share fell from 9% to 8.4%. In Ford’s case, the numbers were a bit better. Sales fell only 0.3% to 82,953, and its market share rose from 7.5% to 8%. The unimaginable now seems possible — Ford could outsell GM in Europe within a few months, if the trend continues. Incidentally, Chrysler’s largest shareholder, Fiat, had a particularly poor month, with sales falling 10.8% to 72.227. Its market share dropped from 7.3% to 6.9%. The irony of the recent Fiat deal under which it controls Chrysler is that the U.S. company has done far better than its parent. This could press Fiat to buyout all of Chrysler, which has been rumored, and set an IPO to cover the acquisition costs.

Perhaps the worst news for the U.S. car companies is that behemoth Volkswagen, that largest car company in sales in the region, posted fairly good numbers. Sales dropped only 0.2%, much less that the regionwide number, to 264,768. Market share moved higher, from 24.6% in May of last year to 25.4% this year. VW currently has a much larger share in Europe than GM has in its home market in the United States, where it is the top car manufacturer by sales.

GM has lost money in Europe since 1999, for a total of $13 billion, and changes in management have not helped right the situation. The U.S. car company has made some attempts to cut these losses, but the efforts have been plodding, as powerful local unions have thwarted the moves.

GM continues to do well in the United States, as well as China, where it is the top car company in the world’s largest market. GM management is understandably reluctant to abandon a market as large as Europe, but for the sake of its investors, it should ignore the path of staying. Not only is the market in Europe contracting, and could for years, but buyers in the region do not want GM cars, which the numbers shout very loudly.

The SUVs included in both recalls are model years 2006 and 2007 Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT and GMC Envoy XL, Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainer, Saab 9-7x, and Isuzu Ascender. According to a report from Reuters, more than 480,000 SUVs have been recalled, with around 443,000 from the U.S. alone.

In the recall notice at the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration website, GM says that “fluid” could enter an electrical module in the driver’s door causing a short that may in turn cause the power door locks and window to fail.

The short could also cause overheating and fire, whether or not the vehicle is not being used. GM advised owners not to park the vehicles in a garage until the problem has been fixed.

While the national economy grew, some of the country’s largest state economies, including California and Texas, increased at an even faster rate. In Texas, population growth and energy production helped boost the state’s overall GDP rate of 4.8%. The oil boom also contributed to the impressive 13.4% economic growth in North Dakota. Based on GDP growth figures provided by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), these are the 10 fastest growing states for 2012.

Click here to see the states growing the fastest

Some of the biggest economic growth on a state level came from the booming energy industry. In North Dakota, the mining industry — which includes natural gas and oil extraction — contributed 3.3 percentage points to growth in the state’s GDP. The biggest growth of any state in the country came in that sector. Other states also saw significant growth due to their energy industries. West Virginia’s natural gas extraction contributed the second highest state GDP growth from the energy and mining sector, at 2.44 percentage points.

Durable goods manufacturing, which includes auto manufacturing and computer parts and other similar products manufacturing, was another important growth sector for many of these states. In Indiana, it was more than half of GDP growth. In Oregon, close to 3 percentage points came from durable goods manufacturing in computer parts and other similar products.

Auto manufacturing recently has seen a major resurgence in some states. In Tennessee, about a third of the increase in GDP came from growth in durable goods manufacturing, which includes the state’s growing auto industry. In an interview with 24/7 Wall St., Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), noted that considering carmakers were bailed out by the government, “Auto manufacturing is actually a success story, especially if you think about where they were a few years ago.”

Many states with the most economic growth have made progress in other sectors. California, which has been one of the most depressed economies in the country for years, may have seen growth in its telecom, tech, financial markets and banks, according to Bernstein. Meanwhile, Washington and Oregon GDPs grew as a result of exports.

GDP growth often goes hand in hand with population growth. North Dakota, Texas and Utah — all top states for GDP growth in 2012 — were among the five largest for population growth that year. In some cases, explained Bernstein, population growth is the result of immigration. “You’re going to find border states with heavy immigrant presence generating faster population growth.” This was the case in states like Texas.

In states like North Dakota, population growth was in due to the increase in available jobs attracting workers to the area. North Dakota, which had the largest proportional increase in jobs last year because of its booming oil sector, also had the biggest increase in population. “North Dakota’s not an immigration story, it’s an energy story,” Bernstein added.

Based on figures published by the BEA, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 states with the fastest growing economies. The BEA’s state growth figures and the industries’ contributions to growth are measured by real gross domestic product. GDP figures published by the BEA for 2012 are preliminary and are subject to annual revision. Real GDP figures for past years already have been revised — substantially in some cases. Population figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau and reflect growth between the July 1, 2011, and July 1, 2012, estimates for each state. Employment and unemployment statistics are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Local Area Unemployment group.

GM announced ridiculous deals to draw potential Volt buyers. It will try to clear out its 2012 inventory, which should not exist at all, with cash incentives has high as $5,000. At the Chevy website, the 2013 Volt is listed with an incentive of $4,000. And consumers can lease the Volt for as little as $269 a month.

GM is practically giving away the Volt, and it cannot possibly be making money on the car, as a number of experts have pointed out.

The Volt has had problems with its battery in the past, which brought Chevy waves of bad publicity and probably damaged sales. GM likely has kept the Volt on the market because it does not want to abandon the flagship car of what management describes as the future of the industry. However, if the Volt is the future of the largest car manufacturer in the world, the years ahead will be difficult.

The Detroit Free Press reported on the GM decision to slash Volt prices:

Volt sales declined 4.3% in May to 1,607 while industry sales increased 8.2%. Through the first five months of this year, Volt trails both the much more expensive Tesla Model S and the smaller, less-expensive Nissan Leaf.

At one time, GM expected to be building between 60,000 and 100,000 Volts annually, but with sales this year through May of 7,157, that goal has been reassessed.

“We have inventory we want to move to get ready for the 2014 model year, and there is a lot of competition in the marketplace,” GM spokeswoman Michelle Malcho said.

Chevrolet dealers have about 140 days’ supply of Volts, about twice the preferred industry average.

GM already loses money on the Volt and will lose even more as it raises incentives. It costs GM as much as $75,000 to produce a Volt, according to some analysts.

The data comes from auto industry research firm R.L. Polk & Co. and counts brands with at least 1,000 new car buyers returning to the market.

Porsche led all makers, with a loyalty score increase of 9.5% to 42.1%. Cadillac was second, with a boost of 8.3% to post a score of 47.4%. Mazda increased its loyalty score by 7.8% to 37%. In all, 13 auto brands posted a larger jump in loyalty scores than the 51.5% average.

A Polk executive noted:

In each case, strong-selling models fuel the loyalty to these brands. We saw a majority of the contribution for brand loyalty coming from Cayenne owners for Porsche, CTS owners for Cadillac and Mazda3 owners for Mazda.

Following Ford’s overall leadership in brand loyalty are Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) with a loyalty score of 58.5%, Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMC), Chevrolet with 56.2% and Mercedes and Nissan tied at 55.9%.

News hit ahead of the S&P 500 index addition that the US Treasury is selling another 30 million GM shares, and wire reports showed after the close that the sale was at a price of $34.41 per share. Another 20 million shares are said to be sold by a UAW retiree health care trust fund as well. We are not so interested in the exact number of shares being sold by the Treasury because they still hold many more shares, but it seems very possible that Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) might be taking advantage of a way to buy shares here without having to go out on the open market.

Berkshire Hathaway’s latest full equity holdings showed that the conglomerate owned some 25 million shares of GM stock. This was the same stake as at the end of 2012, but Berkshire Hathaway was busy growing this stake in 2012. One reason we cannot help but wonder if GM is being acquired is that we just featured GM as one of the 11 Best Warren Buffett Stocks to Buy because it still has so much upside to the analyst fair value model from Wall Street.

Another reason that Team Buffett may have bought more stock is the “bet on America” stance it has taken. Buffett is a supporter of most things that the Obama administration has done, and the administration was largely behind the bailout of GM during the financial crisis. This would give Mr. Buffett yet another chance to vocalize that support for the administration and for America without having to make any formal political statements at all.

GM shares closed up 1.2% at $34.44 against a 52-week trading range of $18.72 to $35.49. Thomson Reuters has a consensus price target of $39.82 for the stock one-year out and GM’s market cap is over $47 billion according to Yahoo! Finance. You can see the strong GM stock performance from the Stockcharts.com image below.

24/7 Wall St. has decided to pull out the “cheapest” stocks from the latest Buffett stock holdings to see where the best opportunities are for long-term investors today. Buffett is of course a value investor who seeks growth at a reasonable price, and he generally prefers companies that pay a dividend, even though Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) itself does not do so.

Our screens focused primarily on stocks that had the most upside to the Thomson Reuters consensus price targets from Wall Street. We also looked at other valuation metrics outside of this year’s expected earnings multiples and added in color on each if applicable. Due to currency fluctuations and international analysis changing up the mix, we have chosen to avoid covering the foreign companies listed as American depository receipts (ADRs).

What is amazing is the many companies in the full Buffett portfolio that are trading close to or even above what the analyst community might refer to as fair value. Investors just need to remember that Warren Buffett himself will not care at all what Wall Street values something at for a year out. He would simply remind investors that he is willing to pay up for solid quality companies that he knows are going to be present and remain attractive through good times and bad times.

Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) trades at close to $86, and the $97.89 consensus price target implies upside of almost 14%. Deere comes with a 2.3% dividend yield. The four million shares in Buffett’s war chest is worth about $344 million, but it will be worth almost $400 million or so if you include the dividends in a year, if Wall Street is right. Be advised that Buffett might agree with the most optimistic analyst target out there of $120 per share, since this machinery giant trades at only about 10 times earnings.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) is still a fairly new position, now at 25 million shares, for Team Buffett. Buffett probably thought he would get an index-related bounce, and his stake is worth about $850 million. GM’s stock has risen to more than $34, which still leaves more than 15% upside to the consensus price target of $39.53. Team Buffett likely is hoping that there is still years of auto sales growth ahead, and the forward earnings multiple of 10 times earnings is just a tad cheaper than the dividend-paying Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) at almost 11 times earnings. The highest analyst target out there is substantially higher and actually above $50, although we would caution that GM pays no dividend.

At last night’s closing price of nearly $35 a share, the Treasury’s sale will bring in about $1.05 billion. In December, GM repurchased 200 million shares for about $8.7 billion. At that time the Treasury said it would sell its remaining 300 million shares in an orderly fashion and dump all its GM shares in 12 to 15 months. The Treasury sold 58.4 million shares in April for a total of about $1.6 billion in its first sale under the plan.

The Treasury disbursed about $51 billion to GM and has recovered about $31.1 billion (including interest payments) before today’s announcement. With fewer than 112 million shares of GM stock remaining, chances are virtually zero that U.S. taxpayers will recoup their entire investment in the U.S. automaker.

Sales of the F-Series pickups from Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) totaled 71,604 in May, up 21.3% month-over-month, 30.6% compared with May 2012, and up 21.7% year-to-date, according to data compiled by Kelley Blue Book. The Chevrolet Silverado pickup from General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) sold 43,283 units and the Dodge Ram from Chrysler Group Ltd. sold 31,672 units. GM’s Sierra models sold 16,061 units. The mid-size Tacoma model from Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) sold 14,727 units in May of a total of 23,255 for the entire category.

The manufacturing market share leader was GM, with a total share of 17.5%, followed by Ford with a 17.1% share, and Toyota with 14.4% share. But Ford’s share is growing much faster than GM’s, up 16.1% month over month compared with rise of 6.4% at GM, and a year-to-date rise of 13% compared with a rise of 8.3% at GM.

The largest market share gainer is Subaru, up 21.1% year to date, but the company has sold only 165,362 units year to date, compared with 1.05 million at Ford and 1.16 million at GM.

If there’s a slight downside to Ford’s unit sales, it is that the company’s average transaction price was down 1% in May 2013 compared to May 2012. GM was able to manage a gain of 0.5%, with Volkswagen posting a gain of 5.2% compared to May 2012.

GM reported that its May U.S. sales totaled 252,894 vehicles, up 3% from a year ago. Its long-troubled Cadillac division, which has lost share for years — primarily to Mercedes, BMW and Lexus — is in a renaissance. But Cadillac’s numbers are still not very important. Despite a 37% improvement in sales, it only sold a total of 13,808 cars.

GM’s real victory was in the truck market, which is more crowded even than luxury cars. The company reported:

GM’s trucks sales were up 15 percent versus a year ago, including a 23 percent increase for large pickups and a 30 percent increase for large SUVs.

The good news pressed GM’s stock price to well above $34, up from a 52-week low of $18.72.

However, lurking just offstage as GM announced its good news is a problem that has plagued the company and will continue to do so for years — its divisions in Europe. Last quarter, before interest in income taxes, Europe posted a loss of $260 million on sales of $5.3 billion. GM continues to be overwhelmed by the recession in the region and the strength of local car companies, led by Volkswagen.

The stock market has forgotten GM’s Europe debacle for now. Perhaps investors believe that new management will solve its problems, or that new models will reverse the slide. The issue is that GM has gone through the exercise of management replacement and new model introduction over and over again. Not a single move has helped its Europe failure.

Investors will be enthusiastic about GM, until its next earnings announcement, and the reminder that it has lost the war in Europe, but will not give up despite that.