Despite an overall solid sales month for General Motors, deliveries of full-size sport-utility vehicles made in Janesville declined in January.The automaker reported Friday that compared to January 2007, last month’s sales of Chevrolet Suburbans were down 14.4 percent, whiles those of the Chevy Tahoe dropped 12.1 percent.

Deliveries of GMC Yukon XLs fell 19 percent, while sales of GMC Yukons were down 17.3 percent.

The four vehicles are made at GM’s assembly plant in Janesville as well as at GM plants in Arlington, Texas, and Silao, Mexico.

Last month’s drop continues a declining trend in the full-size SUV market that’s been taking shape for several years. That trend has been fueled by an uncertain economic situation and a consumer shift to crossover vehicles that get better gas mileage.

Last year, GM sold 338,600 Suburbans, Tahoes, Yukon XLs and Yukons, a drop of 4.7 percent from 2006. The 2007 sales number extended a decline that dates to at least 2002, when GM sold more than 500,000 of the trucks common to the Janesville, Arlington and Silao plants.

Expecting that decline to continue, GM will slow its production rate in Janesville starting in April. The local assembly line will slow from 52 jobs an hour to 44.

The slowdown, layoffs and an expected GM buyout plan are expected to decrease employment levels in Janesville, where 2,500 hourly and 200 salaried personnel now work.

On a corporate basis, GM shined in January while the rest of the industry took a dive. GM posted a 2.6 percent sales gain in January.

U.S. consumers bought just 1.04 million cars and trucks last month, down 4.3 percent from the same month a year ago. The performance translated into an annual seasonally adjusted selling rate of 15.24 million cars and trucks, making last month the worst January in a decade.

Nearly every major automaker posted declines. Sales were down 12.1 percent at Chrysler, 7.3 percent at Nissan, 3.9 percent at Ford and 2.3 percent at both Toyota and Honda.

Much of Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC’s future success will depend on customer reaction to the latest upgrades of their full-size pickup trucks introduced to the press Sunday during the North American International Auto Show here.Ford showcased the 2009 model-year version of its keystone vehicle, the F-150. The truck has been the best selling full-size pickup truck for 30 years, according to the company, but its leadership cushion has been shrinking over the past few years as competitors, most notably Toyota, have been closing the gap.

The 2009 F-150 will have more rear seating room, more carrying and towing capacities, an integrated trailer brake controller, trailer sway control, new safety features and a new high-end trim level among its upgrades.

The Dodge Ram 1500 plays an equally important role for the Dodge division as part of the now privately owned Chrysler. The latest version of the Dodge Ram 1500, also a 2009 model-year, will have a crew cab option, the first for this full-size truck. Other features include more power and torque from the optional 5.7 liter Hemi V8, a new coil spring rear suspension for better ride and handling, and upgraded interiors, a response to customer complaints about the current offerings, company officials said.

Both models will begin production later this year and be available in the fall.

See the March issue of LIGHT & MEDIUM TRUCK for complete coverage of these models and other vehicles introduced at the show.

It may be more than a decade until technologies such as electric vehicles can have an effect on worldwide demand for oil, so General Motors Corp. is putting its near-term energy-saving focus on ethanol, Rick Wagoner, GM chairman and chief executive officer, told attendees Sunday at the North American International Auto Show here.GM is partnering with Coskata Inc., a Warrenville, Ill., company that has developed processes for making ethanol out of many degradable products, Wagoner said. He did not provide details, but a company spokesman said later that GM is a part owner of Coskata.

Ethanol is a “temporary solution” to the need to reduce petroleum use, but with six million vehicles in the United States that could run on E85, it “offers a quick alternative,” he said.

Wagoner said the federal government should do more to develop a unified energy strategy and to encourage ethanol use by helping to increase the number of ethanol fuel stations. “It’s time for the [United States] to address this matter. It’s eminently doable,” he said.

Wagoner said GM would continue its research into fuel cells and other alternative power systems. GM has several gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles on the market and is about to introduce a hybrid Chevrolet Tahoe full-size sport utility vehicle.

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. said U.S. auto sales fell in December, capping the worst year in a decade, and predicted that 2008 probably won’t be any better, Bloomberg News reported.

GM’s sales of cars and light trucks dropped 4.4% from a year earlier. Ford’s total tumbled 9.2%, while Toyota’s fell 1.7%, Bloomberg said. Toyota moved up to second in annual sales, pushing Ford from the spot it had held since 1931.

Ford said it expects a “challenging” U.S. economy in 2008, and Toyota cut its annual sales-growth forecast, after Americans bought 16.1 million cars and light trucks last year, the least since 1998, Bloomberg reported. GM Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said the U.S. economy may be a “risk” to auto sales this year.

For December, Asian automakers’ share of the U.S. market rose to 41.3% from 40.4% a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Sales of Ford’s F-Series large pickups, the best-selling U.S. vehicles, slid 22% last month and 13% for the year, Bloomberg said.

Ford Motor Co. selected Tata Motors Ltd. as the preferred bidder for Jaguar and Land Rover, putting India’s largest truckmaker in a position to take over two iconic British luxury auto brands, Bloomberg News reported.

Tata and the U.S. automaker will hold “further substantive discussions,” Ford Executive Vice President Lewis Booth said in a statement. Ford may fetch as much as 1 billion pounds ($1.98 billion) from a sale, said Stephen Pope of Cantor Fitzgerald in London, according to Bloomberg.

Buying Jaguar and Land Rover, which date back to Britain’s colonial era, would give Tata a presence outside Asia and provide access to new technology. Ford wants to sell the brands to focus on its money-losing North American business, Bloomberg said.

Con-way Inc. said late Monday its fourth-quarter net income fell to $34.5 million, or 73 cents a share, from $82.4 million, or $1.66 per share, a year earlier.

Revenue jumped 20.2% to $1.2 billion, from $998.6 million a year ago, the company said in a statement.

Fourth-quarter operating income dropped 36.2%, to $70 million.

Excluding one-time items such as a restructuring charge, the company said it earned 88 cents a share, compared with 83 cents the previous year.

For the full year, Con-way earned $146 million, or $3.04 per share, down from $259 million, or $4.98, in 2006.

Diamond Companies Inc. announced that the company will bring several truck and bus dealerships, along with IdeaLease locations, under the brand name Diamond International.

The companies will operate under the single name and logo beginning Feb. 1, including Mid-America International Trucks located in Memphis.

Management will remain the same at all company locations.

Based in Memphis, Diamond Companies Inc. is one of the largest Navistar International dealers in the country with more than 600 employees at 17 locations spanning four states.

Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.TO) said Sunday that it will introduce diesel-engine models in the U.S. market in an effort to offer low-emission vehicles.

The Japanese car maker will also roll out plug-in gasoline-electric hybrids with lithium-ion batteries in the U.S. by 2010.

Toyota will launch the Tundra pickup truck and the Sequoia minivan, which will be powered by a new diesel V8 engine, “in the near future,” Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said Sunday.

Other Japanese car makers also said earlier in the day at the North American International Auto Show that they want to bring in diesel-powered vehicles in the U.S. as regulations for gas emissions are becoming stricter and gasoline prices remain high. Diesel engines are about 20% more fuel efficient than gasoline engines.

Honda Motor Co.  President Takeo Fukui said that it will launch diesel vehicles under its luxury Acura brand by 2009.

Toyota, which is the world’s leading gasoline-electric hybrid car maker, will also show two all new, dedicated hybrids, one for Toyota and one for Lexus, next year, Watanabe said.