Gm, Ford, Us Sales Fall In January

General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co on Wednesday both reported lower US vehicle sales for January, when the industry took a breather from strong sales in December and the year-ago period. Ford sales fell the most of the Big Three, down 10.6 percent, while GM was off 6.2 percent, dragging the total industry down 6.6 percent from January 1997 to 1,019,756. Chrysler Corp. earlier posted a 2 percent increase. Overall, domestically produced cars suffered the steepest declines, falling 16.2 percent to 424,138, reflecting consumers tapped out from the year-end incentive spree automakers launched last month. Total North American-built trucks rose 2.9 percent to 455,025. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate was 14.6 million, the weakest since June 1997, and well below 15.3 million in January 1997 and 16.2 million in December.