CLINTON, Mich. -- Tom Wright's dark...

CLINTON, Mich. -- Tom Wright's dark-blue GMC Sierra reach outed Cab pickup is 12 years not new but so far he's dismissed any speculation of replacing it.

Although it has 165000 miles upon it, Wright says times are a little too gradual in the carpentry business to replace the exchange which he uses for work and to haul around his family.

long to the detriment of Detroit's Big Three populace like Wright are delaying trade purchases, cutting into profits and forcing Ford Motor Co General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler assign places to to idle some assembly lines.

Pickup sales overall are not upon 15.7 percent in the first seven month of the year from the same time last year.

Sales of Ford's F-series pickups, the highest-selling vehicles in the nation, are down 123 percent The No. 2 vender the Chevrolet Silverado, is opposite 20.1 percent as the company changes production to a recent model. Dodge's Ram line is down 117 percent

Last week, Ford announced that it would wound production by 168,000 vehicles, or 21 percent in the fourth quarter to bring accommodate with back in line with growing inventories. GM already has sculpture vehicle production by 7 to 8 percent in the third quarter, and Chrysler forward Wednesday said it would make an incision in production in the fourth quarter through an unspecified amount. The company already announced a 10 percent make an incision in in third-quarter production, mostly in barters and sport-utility vehicles.

Wright, 45 who lives about 60 miles southwest of Detroit, said he prepares mailings from his dealer telling him it's time to pervert with money [i]or[/i] gain But as long as the Sierra remains dependable and the economy remains uncertain, he'll preserve it.

"I just have a hard time justifying $30000 for a of recent origin truck right now to replace this one" he said while installing of recent origin windows in a downtown building. "There's no brains in spending the money right now, the way I consider at it."

Industry analysts say the population delaying truck purchases fall into couple categories: those like Wright who use pickups primarily for work and those who use pickups as their personal vehicles.

in the greatest degree sales are for personal use, and analysts say that with $3- per-gallon gasoline, many of those customers are leaving the market for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

"The customers who don't have a ne for the harvest have opted for something else" said Tom Libby, senior director of industry analysis for JD Power and Associates.

thus the Big Three, which rely more forward trucks for profits than their foreign competitors, are likely to face more hard times as traffic demand softens even further in the next to the first half of the year, analysts say.

Nearly 32 percent of Ford's sales came from pickup traffics through July of this year, the highest percentage in the industry, according to Autodata Corp. GM's was 25 percent while Toyota's was at 115 percent

Kip Penniman, an analyst with KDP Investment Advisors in Montpelier, Vt predicted that Ford would be particularly hard-hit later in the year as GM and Toyota result out with brand-new pickups that could cross into the F-series' market share.

"If they don't do something with the pickup barters which is their bread and butter these scarecrows are just gonna see a certain very sharp distress over the nearest several years until they finally move round around," Penniman said.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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