April 3 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. said March U.S. sales fell as they cut deliveries to rental- car companies and as demand declined for pickups and sport- utility vehicles. Asian automakers posted an 11 percent gain.

GM's sales declined 4.2 percent from a year earlier, and the company widened its production cut for this quarter. Ford today reported a 9 percent drop, while DaimlerChrysler AG's slid 4.1 percent, led by Chrysler, which may be losing customers because it's for sale. Deliveries rose 12 percent at Toyota Motor Corp., 11 percent at Honda Motor Co. and 7.8 percent at Nissan Motor Co.

GM and Ford, the two largest U.S. automakers, are trying to boost profit by paring sales to fleet customers including rental- car companies that get discounts for buying in bulk. The strategy is helping Asia-based rivals led by Toyota gain U.S. market share. Fleet sales accounted for 27 percent of Detroit-based GM's total and 32 percent of Ford's in 2006.

``There is a balancing act, but certainly Toyota is continuing to put the full-court press on all competitors in the market,'' Michael Robinet, an analyst at CSM Worldwide Inc. in Farmington Hills, Michigan, said in an interview.

The industry's annualized sales rate fell to 16.3 million cars and light trucks from 16.6 million in March 2006, according to Autodata Corp. The number of vehicles sold rose 0.8 percent to 1.54 million, including a 4 percent increase for cars and a 1.9 percent decline for pickup trucks, SUVs and minivans.

The U.S. market share of GM, Ford and Chrysler fell to 51.6 percent from 55.2 percent a year earlier, Autodata said. Asian automakers' share rose to 41.9 percent from 38.1 percent.

Chrysler

DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche may give an update on Chrysler's future tomorrow in Berlin. He said Feb. 14 that ``all options are on the table,'' including a sale of the unit, after Chrysler posted a $1.5 billion loss last year.

``The continued talks of a Chrysler separation from its parent have had a negative impact on both showroom traffic as well as dealers' enthusiasm to push the product,'' Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst John Murphy wrote in a March 26 report. The New York-based analyst doesn't rate DaimlerChrysler shares.

DaimlerChrysler's March sales dropped to 228,047 from 237,829 a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Chrysler sales fell 4.6 percent and Mercedes sales rose about 1 percent.

GM, Ford

Sales at GM, the world's largest automaker, declined to 349,867 cars and trucks from 365,375, including an 8.6 percent drop for the Chevrolet Silverado large pickup, the best-selling vehicle last month and second best in 2006. The Detroit-based company's light-truck sales fell 7.7 percent, while its car sales rose 2.3 percent.

GM also said it plans to produce 6.2 percent fewer cars and trucks in North America this quarter, a steeper cut than the 5 percent it forecast last month. The automaker trimmed first- quarter output in the region 15 percent from a year earlier.

Ford sold 264,975 cars and trucks, a decline from 291,146 a year earlier. The results included a 15 percent decline to 71,481 in sales of F-Series pickups. A year earlier, Ford sold 84,168 of the trucks, the most of any month in 2006.

The automaker is ``assessing'' F-Series production, company sales analyst George Pipas said in a conference call. Ford has been ``conservative'' about how many it builds, he said.

Sales of the Dearborn, Michigan-based company's Explorer sport-utility vehicle fell 25 percent to 12,876.

The truck declines overwhelmed gains in some smaller car models, including a 48 percent rise to 15,790 for the Fusion midsize sedan and a 5.5 percent gain to 17,065 for the Focus small car.

Toyota, Honda, Nissan

Toyota, Japan's largest automaker, sold 242,675 vehicles in March, up from 217,286 a year ago, the Toyota City, Japan-based company said in a statement.

The increase was led by the gasoline-electric Prius hatchback, which more than doubled sales from a year earlier to 19,156, the company said. Tundra pickup sales rose 12 percent.

Honda sales increased to 143,392 from 128,806, the company said in a statement. That included gains of 23 percent for the Accord sedan and 2.6 percent for the Civic small car. Tokyo-based Honda also sold 4,235 of its new Fit small car.

Nissan's gain to 111,119 cars and trucks was led by the revamped Altima sedan, Versa small car and Infiniti G35 sports car, Katherine Zachary, a spokeswoman for the Tokyo-based automaker's U.S. unit, said.

Among other Asian companies, Mazda Motor Corp., a Ford affiliate based in Hiroshima, Japan, sold a record 37,742 vehicles, a gain of 48 percent from a year earlier and its largest increase in 26 years, spokesman Eric Booth said.

Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Motors Corp., said its sales rose 22 percent to 12,536. Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, said its U.S. sales rose 0.5 percent to 41,984.

Asian automakers sold a combined 646,815 cars and trucks, up 11 percent according to figures compiled by Bloomberg.

Analysts' Estimates

Sales were expected to drop 14 percent last month for Ford, 3.2 percent for GM and 5.5 percent for Chrysler, based on the average estimates of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

There were 28 selling days in March, one more than a year earlier. The analysts' estimates for GM, Ford and Chrysler are adjusted for sales days. Bloomberg reports unadjusted sales figures, which would be about 4 percentage points higher.

GM shares rose 64 cents to $31.47 at 4:21 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Ford's fell 1 cent to $8.08 and U.S. shares of DaimlerChrysler dropped $1.07 to $82.95. Toyota's American depositary receipts rose 6 cents to $126.98.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jeff Green in Southfield, Michigan at jgreen16@bloomberg.net; Greg Bensinger in New York at gbensinger1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 3, 2007 16:35 EDT