Car Sales Dropped in December; Analysts Blame Winter Storm

After December sales numbers, Ford has officially claimed the title of bestselling brand in the United States for the fourth year in the row even though the American carmaker's sales fell short of expectations.

The Dearborn, Mich.-based company set annual sales records for the Ford Fiesta, Fusion and Escape, said a Ford press release.

Ford's U.S. sales in 2013 totaled 2,493,918 vehicles. Sales rose about 2 percent in December for 218,058 vehicles sold last month, said Ford.

"December was a strong close to an even better year for Ford Motor Company," John Felice, Ford vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service, said in the press release. "We saw strong growth across the entire Ford lineup and made significant gains in the import-dominated coastal markets."

Despite a strong sales year across the board, automakers' sales fell short of analyst projections in December, Business Insider reported. Analysts believe the wintry weather may be to blame for the fall in sales.

"After a strong end to November over Black Friday weekend lifted sales for the month to six-year high of 16.3 million units annualized, initial mid-month industry surveys observed some slowing in sales in the first half of December, reflecting the pull forward into November as well as a drag from December winter storm," said Morgan Stanley's Ted Wieseman. "Renewed upside was expected in the second half of the month, but overall December sales may show a 5 percent pullback after jumping 8 percent in November."

While Ford still came out on top, its 1.7 percent gain was modest compared with the expected 4.3 percent increase, the outlet said.

Chrysler saw a 5.7 percent gain in sales for 161,007 units, but the figure was lower than analysts' estimate of 8.4 percent.

General Motors and Toyota both had stalled sales in December. The American car company tanked with a drop of 6.3 percent when analysts had predicted a gain of 1.5 percent, according to Business Insider. Toyota's sales fell 1.7 percent when the company had been expected to see a 3.1 percent gain.