Ford Sales Increase 2.5% in May; Industry Loss Narrows to 1.2% : Autos: Report bodes well for the Big Three, which appear to have begun pulling out of a slump that started in January.

DETROIT —  Ford Motor Co.’s May sales were 2.5% ahead of the same period last year, with strong demand for vans, pickups and sport-utility vehicles making up for a decline in passenger car deliveries, the auto maker said Monday.

Ford is the last manufacturer to report U.S. sales for May, when the industry appears to have begun pulling out of a slump that started with the new year.

Beginning with January, when sales lagged the previous year by 2%, the daily sales average had fallen each month. April sales fell 6.1%.

In May, the decline narrowed to 1.2% for the industry, with truck sales up slightly from last year and car sales down 2.6%.

“In retrospect, it certainly appears that the market’s decline in April was exaggerated by temporary, short-term factors,” Ford group Vice President Robert L. Rewey said in the company’s report.

“Our estimate of the seasonally adjusted annual selling rate in May was up substantially from April’s and quite close to the first quarter’s,” Rewey said. “Looking ahead, we expect further improvement in the annual rate in the third and fourth quarters.”

The Big Three domestic auto makers began the year forecasting that 1995 sales would substantially exceed last year’s. But by last month, they had adjusted those estimates. They now expect 1995 totals to about equal last year’s U.S. sales of 15.1 million light vehicles.

In May, Ford’s sales of light trucks were 7.7% higher than a year ago and set a 20th consecutive monthly record at the company.

Most of the other major auto makers’ sales in May were behind last year’s levels, but Nissan Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Co. reported increases last week. Chrysler Corp. sold more vehicles than it had in May, 1994, but an extra sales day in the 1995 month meant its average daily sales were down 3%.

Sales by General Motors Corp., the No. 1 auto maker, fell 5.7%.

U.S. sales by the Big Three as a group dropped 2.3%, while the Asian companies equaled last year’s May performance. European auto makers, which account for less than 4% of the U.S. market, continued an upward trend, with May sales 19% higher than a year ago.